Sherrie loves color!

1,000 comfort quilts!

2012-02-29T13:18:00.001-08:00

Some of the Gig Harbor Comfort Quilters celebrated yesterday
to mark finishing our 1,000th quilt to donate to cancer patients.

Party time for the Gig Harbor

Comfort Quilters!

We put the final stitches in Quilt No. 1,000 this month. That's 1,000 quilts donated to cancer patients since Carol Arnold started the project in 2002. That's about 100 quilts a year, or two quilts a week. That's a lot of LOVING STITCHES.

Comfort Quilt founder Carol Arnold with Quilt 1,000.

Here's Carol in front of Quilt 1,000 during our party yesterday at Harbor Quilts, where we meet every month to sew colorful lap-size quilts for cancer patients -- mainly breast cancer patients. (Carol started the project after she completed treatment for breast cancer.)

Carol kept trying to turn the focus back on the group, but she deserves special attention for plugging along month after month for almost 10 years, collecting fabric donations, overseeing the work sessions, and delivering the finished quilts.

We had scones and bubbly ... and chicken noodle soup, homemade bread, fudge, brownies, cookies, chocolates ... flowers and balloons.

We worked, too. A lot of little patches went through those machines yesterday. There was a lot of laughter, which is why I'm so happy I found this group of wonderful ladies when I moved here a few years ago. They got me through my first dark and rainy winter in the Northwest and now I SO look forward to our monthly sewing sessions.

Here are some of the quilt tops coming together on the design wall yesterday:

The gorgeous quilt below was pieced by a volunteer at home and then passed on to another volunteer recently for the quilting. There was much ooohing and ahhhing over it.

Back story on Quilt 1,000:

Below is the unfinished quilt having a photo shoot on my front porch last year, although I didn't know at the time it was going to be the milestone one. We had been piecing the blocks during a meeting last summer and I volunteered to take it home to finish sewing the blocks together and put on borders. (It was purely selfish -- I loved the colors so much I didn't want to wait another month to see it again.) After that, it took awhile to work its way through the system for the long-arm quilting, binding and label, but this month it was finally done and ready to be donated.

Here are the rest of my blog posts about the Comfort Quilters, in case you want to see more beautiful colors and designs and learn more about our group, which meets the fourth Tuesday of the month at Harbor Quilts on Pioneer and welcomes donations of fabric and new volunteers. Enjoy!

http://sherriequilt.blogspot.com/2011/12/more-comfort-quilts-come-together.html

http://sherriequilt.blogspot.com/2011/10/cancer-comfort-quilts-on-earthbongo.html

http://sherriequilt.blogspot.com/2011/06/cancer-quilt-spirals-and-moon-snail.html

http://sherriequilt.blogspot.com/2011/04/cancer-comfort-quilt-day.html

http://sherriequilt.blogspot.com/2011/01/comfort-quilt-day.html

http://sherriequilt.blogspot.com/2010/04/quilts-for-breast-cancer-patients.html

Label on back of Quilt 1,000:
"Thinking of you. Gig Harbor Comfort Quilters. 2012"

Have a colorful day!

Background challenge

2012-02-27T21:12:00.003-08:00

The challenge quilt's deadline is March 1 and I still hadn't decided over the weekend what kind of background to use. Black would be an easy solution -- it really sets off the colors -- but I'm tired of black.

I thought this batik (above) would work because it has the same colors, but the quilt just disappeared against it. On the other hand, that could be an interesting effect.

Then I pulled out the veggie print that also matched the colors exactly, but it overwhelmed the quilt.

I like it against this piece of fabric that I painted last year, but the piece wasn't big enough and I don't feel like pulling out the painting supplies. In the photo below I tested a strip of pink to see how it might work bordering the edges of the pieced section.

Finally I went to the quilt shop (as if I don't have enough fabric in the stash) and settled on the whimsical pink raindrops on green batik. Rain for the garden. I also went with the pink border to set the quilt off from the background print. Now it's quilt, quilt, quilt. Should be done tomorrow!

Have a colorful day!

The Feet see Gauguin in Seattle

2012-02-23T22:13:00.003-08:00

Big day yesterday for the Feet and Forks! We took the ferry to Seattle and saw "Gauguin & Polynesia: An Elusive Paradise," a new exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum.

From the windy ferry deck, we watched Seattle emerge on the horizon, as blue as the sky and the water.

I see an abstract possibility here, looking down from the ferry.

The Feet hoofed it along Alaskan Way to Starbucks, stopping for a photo op with the big stuffed Elliott the Otter. Then it was up the loooong staircase and hills to the museum.

"Tahitian Women (On the Beach)," 1891, Paul Gauguin

Photography wasn't allowed in the Gauguin exhibit, but here's one of the paintings we saw (above). Paul Gauguin, one of the leading French Postimpressionists of the late 1800s, did this oil painting shortly after moving to Tahiti, a period when he increasingly sought expressiveness through COLOR. (My kind of artist!)

Self portrait, 1888, Paul Gauguin

I was struck by the pensiveness of the expressions on his subjects and I couldn't help noticing that they never seemed to be looking at one another. They seemed disconnected from each other and their "paradise." Maybe this was intentional -- I don't know enough about Gauguin to answer that one. Do any of you know?

The exhibit runs through April 29. It includes about 60 of Gauguin's paintings, sculptures and works on paper, most of them brilliantly hued.

Moving on to the the Abstract Expressionist gallery (my favorite period), I pondered the deep meaning of "The Blackboard," 1961, by Conrad Marca-Relli. I decided that the meaning didn't matter to me -- I just liked the large scale, the puzzle-like shapes and the raw edges. Even though it was gray (shudder), I still was attracted to it. It reminded me of textile collage and of farmland seen from an airplane.

Above is a Marc Rothko painting, also from the Abstract Expressionist gallery. I think I'd really like a painting using Rothko and Gauguin's colors but the shapes from "The Blackboard." (Note to self: Possible art quilt.)

Below is a variety of glass art in another gallery.

Then the Feet moved on to The Wild Ginger, where we earned the Forks part of our name. The empty dessert plate had a delicious piece of dense, flourless chocolate cake topped with whipped cream and pieces of toffee!!!

Even though we were stuffed, we somehow ended up minutes later in Pike's Place Market at Beecher's eating free artisan cheese samples.

Then we rolled across the street and made a beeline for the donut machine, which dispenses hot little donuts that melt in your mouth. We got a bag and shared them while sipping free tea samples from the tea shop.

The vegetable and fruit displays in Pike's Place looked as luscious as any Gauguin painting.

Touristy sidewalk display on Alaskan Way.

Back down on Alaskan Way, the other Feet and Forks went to the fudge shop while I got my second iced decaf nonfat no-whip mocha of the day at Starbucks. Then we hustled onto a packed rush-hour ferry for the ride back home.

Our seagull escort home.

Well, I hope you enjoyed your little outing with the Feet and Forks in the great Pacific Northwest.

Have a colorful day

Chocolate bunny quilt

2012-02-18T16:55:00.000-08:00

Karen Musgrave's challenge quilt is hopping along. The vintage fabric we have to use includes brown, which of course made me think of chocolate, which led to the chocolate bunny fabric and the pile of Hershey Kisses foil wrappers in my stash.

That's the vintage "challenge" fabric in these two blocks. (The strips with the pink and brown print.) It used to have a white background, but I painted over it with transparent SetaColor fabric paints in warm orange, pink and yellow. Much better with my usual colorful palette!

Scary chocolate bunny, glaring out of the garden patch.

Since I have a huge chocolate wrapper collection, I was able to select just the right pink, orange, gold and chocolate colors. I ironed them between plastic sandwich bags (dry iron, low heat, with a press cloth) to stabilize them for sewing.

Part of the challenge is to use Rayna Gillman's techniques from her new book, "Create Your Own Free-Form Quilts," which is why I have all these wavy, wonky strips. She calls them "therapy strips," and she's right. It's easy, mindless, fun sewing -- great therapy!

Now I have to decide how to finish it. I want to leave the irregular outline, but I might mount it on this veggie patch fabric (above). The colors really pop against black, but I've been getting away from black lately in my work. I guess I'd better have some chocolate and think about it.

To read about Karen's challenge and see the vintage fabric, go to her blog post here: http://connectionsbykaren.blogspot.com/2012/01/fabric-challenge.html

Have a colorful day

Commission blues

2012-02-16T15:22:00.000-08:00

Have you ever had

the Commission Blues?

This is a set of sheer panels that I made on commission to hang above a fireplace on either side of a clock and an arrangement of branches. The client said it just wasn't what she had in mind -- she envisioned something airier -- so now they're mine. She did really like the colors, which had to go with her upholstery, rug, and the clock, but she didn't like the end product.

So while I'm disappointed, at least I can do a good blog post. Above are some of the materials I pulled together -- silk chiffon that I painted, unspun hand-dyed wool, and some other yarn and fabric. I made three trips to her house with various parts of my stash before she finally found all of the colors and textures that she wanted.

We discussed design, then I set to work, above. But our minds, apparently, were on divergent paths. Below is an unfinished panel next to a sample of her upholstery. Quite different from my usual gaudy lime, hot pink and orange palette.

I finally put us both out of our misery today when I told her that I just couldn't change it anymore and I didn't want her to have to pay for something she wasn't happy with. I can't TELL you how much better I feel now that it's not hanging over me and I can move on to doing work for myself.

Have a colorful day

Hoppy Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T20:41:00.000-08:00

Two of my honeys.

Hoppy Happy Valentine's Day!

And the winner is ...

2012-02-13T16:53:00.000-08:00

Ellen Gets Crafty!

A copy of "Creative Quilting with Beads" will be on its way soon to sunny San Diego, CA, home of the prolific blogger and crafter, Ellen Gets Crafty. Her blog always brings a ray of California sunshine.

My low-tech random drawing consisted of putting names on little pieces of folded paper and pulling one out of the pile.

For those who didn't win but still might want to do a quick Sparkling Heart for Valentine's Day, here's what it looks like in progress:

1. Layer a main fabric, batting and backing that are cut large enough to either wrap around a stretcher frame or to fit inside a mat and frame. (Note: Do NOT baste, as directed in the book. Just pin the corners.) Cut a 5 x 7 inch opening in a piece of paper and lay it on top to isolate the finished area that will show. Layer snippets of sheers, hand dyes, shimmery lame or whatever catches your fancy in the opening to create a rich background. Pin. Glitz is good.

2. Quilt as desired -- just make sure you catch all the little bits with a few passes of quilting. For projects like this, I like to use shiny rayon or gold metallic in the sewing machine.

3. Make a heart template and pin it in place, using the 5 x 7 cut out again for reference. Either trace around the heart with some sort of marker or do as I did -- leave it pinned in place as a guide until you've done a row of beading around it.

4. Outline the heart with beads, then do a few more rows to emphasize the design. You might have to try a few sizes and colors to find a combo that stands out against the background. Then I filled in the center of the heart with scattered beads, but you should do whatever you want. Make it your own!

5. Finish by either wrapping it around a stretcher frame and stapling it to the back or by matting and framing it ... or bind it, incorporate it in a tote bag, whatever your heart desires. Yesterday's post shows the finished piece.

NOTE: The book goes into much more detail about beading, and has a lot of other fun projects. I highly recommend it, especially if you're a beginner and want specifics about thread, beads, stitches, etc. Here's the link: http://www.larkcrafts.com/bookstore/?isbn=9781454703365

I'd love to see your hearts and post them on my blog if you do the project.

Happy Valentine's Day

Last chance to enter

2012-02-12T15:26:00.000-08:00

My Sparkling Heart project that's in the book.

The deadline is fast approaching to enter the drawing for a free copy of "Creative Quilting with Beads." I'm picking the winner when I wake up tomorrow. Just leave a comment and you'll be in the running! (If you don't know what I'm talking about, see the Feb. 8 post.)

I'll celebrate the drawing by having my usual venti iced decaf nonfat mocha. I found this luscious silk scarf at a gallery near the Art Institute of Chicago when I still lived in Illinois. And the turquoise earrings were only $7 from a vendor at the International Quilt Festival-Long Beach last year.

It's all about the color!

Have a colorful day

Challenge excitement

2012-02-09T22:04:00.000-08:00

I painted a colorwash over Karen's challenge fabric
and topped it with an extra free-form strip block ...

1 + 2

... while practicing Rayna Gillman's free-form quilt technique

= 3

... and discovered that the painted fabric works in the practice quilt!
Can you find it in the lower left?

Now I have to get crackin' on the challenge quilt, using more of Karen's fabric and Rayna's free-form piecing technique. Our deadline is the end of the month! To see what others in the challenge are doing, head over to this post on Karen's site where she gives links for all of the participants: http://connectionsbykaren.blogspot.com/2012/01/challenge-fabric-quilt.html

I think the lavender linen pulls the prints together.

Back to the studio!

p.s. Thanks for all the comments yesterday. You still have a few days to get your name in the drawing for a free copy of "Creative Quilting with Beads." Go to yesterday's post if you're interested.

You could win this book!

2012-02-08T18:36:00.000-08:00

CREATIVE QUILTING WITH BEADS
20+ Projects with Dimension,

Sparkle & Shine

Paperback, 129 pages, $17.95
ISBN: 978-1454703365

I'm giving away a copy of "Creative Quilting with Beads," which has just been released in paperback by Lark Crafts. That's my Sparkling Heart on the back cover!!! I give directions for layering and quilting the background, beading the design (it doesn't have to be a heart), and stretching it around a frame. Alternatively, it could be matted and framed. I'm always looking for alternatives.

The book first came out a few years ago in hardback, and now Lark is promoting the paperback version. Here's the link, in case you'd like to order a copy or read more about it. Lark also has a lot of other fun and COLORFUL quilting and beading books at its site.

http://www.larkcrafts.com/bookstore/?isbn=9781454703365

Here's the blurb from Lark's website: "Quilters have expanded the traditional boundaries of their art, embellishing their work with beads, embroidery, and surface design. They, as well as other fiber artists and sewers, will warmly welcome this idea-packed resource that opens up a new realm of creative potential. An illustrated basics section and quilting primer, fun techniques to experiment with, and 24 unique projects created by well-known designers--including a retro-chic throw pillow, miniature wall quilt, and fabric greeting card--will provide quilters with hours of enjoyment, instruction, and inspiration. "

Here's my project next to its pages in the book.

You could be the lucky winner if you leave a comment on my blog before Monday morning. I'll draw a name when I wake up Monday, so it won't be too early.

Have a colorful day!

The answer: Minneapolis

2012-02-07T14:59:00.000-08:00

I can't believe no one guessed that yesterday's Mystery City is Minneapolis! The giveaway is the red and white circle art at Target's downtown worldwide headquarters! Target also had this Chihuly glass art in the lobby:

We weren't there for Target -- we went for a wedding, and what a fabulously colorful ceremony it was. It took place in the lush, sunken gardens of the glass conservatory at Como Park in St. Paul. The bride's dress was a luxurious cascade of frothy ruffles in the back, and the front came up to her knees revealing her black combat boots! She's a singer in a rock band, and she did a great job of combining her rock persona and her traditional side.

The wedding colors were black and cream.

She sang her way down the aisle, while the groom played guitar.

Now that she's part of our extended family, she has to go through the tradition of being on the blog.

In my quest for color in the city, I shot these cool salt and pepper shakers at one restaurant and the embroidered table topper at an Indian restaurant.

And here's the obligatory photo from the airplane, always good for design inspiration:

Check back tomorrow

for a very special book giveaway!

Another Mystery City

2012-02-06T16:23:00.000-08:00

Here's another in my series of Mystery Cities.

Can anyone tell me the name of this U.S. city? Photos are from last week, in case the weather works as a clue. And no, it's not Seattle.

HINT: The red and white window art

should give it away.

Two sisters and a double scoop.

Have a colorful day

New business cards

2012-01-31T14:33:00.000-08:00

Voila, my new business cards!

I started an art quilters group a few months ago in Gig Harbor, and we decided that we should make business cards to exchange in the style of ATCs -- artist trading cards. So that was the impetus, the kick in the pants I needed.

I started with pieces of blue and orange collaged fabric left over from a project about six years ago. I cut them a little bigger than 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches (the size we agreed on), and printed some business cards on card stock. Then I cut Peltex -- the kind that's fusible on both sides -- to the finished size of the cards. The Peltex is thick and stiff, so the cards will hold their shape. It's easy to stitch through, although I didn't do that.

I fused the fabric on one side and the cards on the other, then trimmed the excess. I love snippets of leftovers, so I took this photo before I threw them out. It's really hard for me to throw out colorful scraps of anything.

Then I started arranging them in different designs and decided they'd make a cool quilt. So maybe I'll collage some more fabric and cut it in rectangles for a tile-like quilt.

Thanks, art quilters' group, for giving me the incentive to move on this!

Have a colorful day

The Nuts eat

2012-01-29T20:18:00.000-08:00

I forgot to report on the Nuts' latest sewing day. I know you're all waiting to see what we ate this month, so here it is! (Everyone should have friends like the Nuts.)

Nancy made lattes for everyone, then served us a healthy breakfast of yogurt, fruit and nuts, and muffins. I forgot to get a photo of lunch, but the highlight of the day was this spice layer cake with buttercream frosting topped with, appropriately, more nuts.

There was a lot of crazy quilt embroidery going on. Here's Nancy's very colorful block. Plenty of movement:

Carolynn was just getting started on her red block:

Linda worked on another embroidered tea towel. This one incorporates three things you see a lot of here -- lighthouses, evergreen trees, and seagulls.

And I made a few pillowcases for our quilt guild's ongoing project of donating colorful pillowcases to local hospitalized kids.

Have a colorful day

Breezy scarf and Rayna strips

2012-01-24T20:44:00.000-08:00

I needed a color fix last night after days of rain, ice, gray ... so I made this scarf from the silk scraps on my studio floor.

It wasn't exactly a quick project, but that was OK because it provided hours of machine time blissfully soaking in the bright colors. I sandwiched my hand-painted silk scraps and some other glitzy fabric and yarn between layers of Sulky Solvy (see my post here about the technique) and sewed all over with angles to mimic the shapes of the scraps. I used YLI metallic gold and a variety of other colors.

Note: I didn't have any problems with the foot sticking this time, probably because it's so dry in the house now that the heat has been on.

This morning was the exciting part, soaking it in a sinkful of water (above) and seeing what emerged after the Solvy dissolved away. This only took a couple of minutes. I squeezed out the excess moisture in a towel, and it's almost ready to wear!

I say almost, because I think I'll give it a quick press with the iron so it doesn't look quite so raggedy. The power was off again part of today, so I didn't get around to the ironing yet.

Here's how it looks with a green background (my ironing board cover).

And here is what's going on with the free-form strips I'm sewing using Rayna Gillman's technique from her new book, "Create Your Own Free-Form Quilts." I'm still rearranging segments and adding more sections. This is a warmup for tackling the ugly-fabric challenge that I wrote about earlier.

You can read about the challenge here.

Hope you're all either weathering the storms or enjoying sunny weather!

Have a colorful day!

Color in the ice and snow

2012-01-21T23:15:00.000-08:00

I ventured into the snow and ice yesterday to see what I could see in our yard. I was on the lookout for color.

I found red berries and branches sheathed in ice.

A woodpecker's red head popped against the gray world.

From the kitchen window (when I came inside for a chocolate fix), these yellow flowers glowed against the muted woods.

No, I'm not hallucinating from the chocolate, but I did have a flashback to this summer scene (above) as I took a photo from the same spot yesterday:

This is also the scene of the devastion below, where a tree fell during the storm and landed on my little seating area.

Here's another flashback to that same spot last summer, when I was sitting in that same chair. My embroidery supplies were on the table now covered with snow.

More branches bow under the weight of the ice, above, while sturdier trees, below, stand majestically in the snow.

Our neighbors made a snow fisherman, and my Kokopelli yard art did an ice dance.

How's the weather in your part of the world?

Have a colorful day

Hot strips, cold drips

2012-01-20T13:25:00.000-08:00

If you're following the weather, you might have heard that the Northwest is socked in by snow, ice and wind. It's true. So in between power outages, I've been working on my "Rayna Gillman strips" to give me something bright to look at.

JUST NOW A TREMENDOUS BOOM

SHOOK THE HOUSE!

I think it was a giant hunk of snow or ice falling off the roof!

Anyway, I'm working on blocks and strips in my favorite bright colors to get in shape for Karen Musgrave's ugly fabric challenge, which I blogged about a few days ago here. You can pop on over to her blog, here ,where she has links to everyone else participating in the challenge, including Rayna herself.

Here are some of my hot strips and nature's cold drips.

The purple X means "NO MORE GRAY!"

If you're familiar with this part of Washington, you might be interested to know that they have closed the Tacoma Narrows Bridge today because of falling ice that was damaging cars. That's the only link between here and Tacoma.

We just had two more giant crashes on the roof. Better post this before the power goes out again.

Have a colorful day

Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-18T22:29:00.000-08:00

Tea to the rescue

2012-01-16T23:46:00.000-08:00

Tea dying the ugly fabric.

Not a pretty site.

I decided to tea dye some of the ugly challenge fabric to tone it down. I also threw a piece of white fabric in the tea so I'd have a coordinating strip.

Now it's REALLY ugly ... at least to my mind, because I don't generally like anything brown or beige unless it's chocolate. I may end up using the original.

From left: original ugly, tea-dyed ugly, tea-dyed white.

So I browsed my stash and found the chocolate bunny fabric that coordinates colorwise with the tea-dyed ugly. Then I pulled out some vegetable fabric (since rabbits eat veggies) that picked up on the brown and pink. The green and purple help jazz things up.

But once everything is sliced and diced with the Rayna method the rabbits and veggies will probably be lost, so I may just use them as color inspiration ... or I might go in a totally different direction. More later ...

Have a colorful day

Ugly fabric, fun book

2012-01-13T23:48:00.000-08:00

Fabulous book,

hideous fabric

This is the "ugly fabric" that arrived in the mail this week from Karen Musgrave, kicking off her internet challenge.

The mission, for us fearless (foolish?) quilters who signed up, is to turn Karen's hideous, vintage fabric into fabulous art quilts using the techniques in Rayna Gillman's new book, "Create Your Own Free-form Quilts." (Click here for Rayna's comments on the ugly fabric.)

Rayna slices and dices ugly blocks and hideous fabric and combines them with other fabric until she has sizzling, fantastic art quilts. I just got her book this week and started practicing her techniques with my own fabric while I waited for Karen's to arrive.

Here are some of the scraps I started with, and below are my first few baby steps using Rayna's free-form, no-stress techniques.

Thankfully, Karen is allowing us to paint, dye or use other means of surface design to help in the transformation.

Stay tuned

Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-11T11:46:00.000-08:00

Rainy Day is done

2012-01-08T15:56:00.000-08:00

Detail, "Rainy Day," by Sherrie Spangler

Here's my first finished quilt of 2012!

"Rainy Day" got done in record time, about four days from the start of painting the fabric to pulling the last thread tail through. The motivation was panic that I wouldn't have any new work to show for a jurying appointment later this month.

Today there was some sunshine, so we took the photo outside along with a SUNNY DAY piece of yardage that I bought earlier today at 40% off. Those are the colors I REALLY like.

This is how a rainy day looks from my part of the Puget Sound, with the Olympic Mountains visible sometimes when the clouds shift. The toned down yellow is the color of the sun diffused by midafternoon winter clouds, but more often the clouds are a purplish gray.

I left all of the edges exposed and raw (top, batting and backing), and slipped some slivers of painted fabric behind the top and left edges to square things up and add a little more layering.

I like side shots the best.

Parting shot: late afternoon sun highlighting the tree in our yard.

Have a colorful day

Rainy Day Dream Away

2012-01-06T15:10:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to embrace the rain and gray this year instead of hating it, so this week I started a "Rainy Day" quilt by painting some cotton and cheesecloth (above).

Before reading more, you need to get in the mood by clicking on Jimi's "Rainy Day Dream Away." As I painted, that song kept popping into my head until I finally just put in on. (You know he was from this rainy part of the country.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVqJl-FOYIA

I got impatient waiting for the fabric to dry, so I finished it off with the blow dryer, ironed it, and then pulled out some other fabric from my stash that I thought might go with it. I ended up only using a piece of black tulle, but the pile is still on my floor.

It's a pretty pile.

I tore the painted piece into rectangles and pinned them on a piece of batting and black backing ...

... then I started sewing with silver thread in the needle and bobbin.

I started by tacking down the smaller rectangles with a zigzag stitch and leaving long silver thread tails, pulling the bobbin tails to the front for more shimmer.

Back on the design board, the piece looked washed out, so I added black tulle to the top and bottom of the center rectangle for more contrast.

This is where I am right now, and as soon as I finish this post I'll add the final quilting and do an edge treatment. And yes, it's rainy outside.

Have a colorful (if rainy) day

Chocolate for the New Year! (And quilted houses)

2012-01-01T22:29:00.000-08:00

The Twisted Nut Stitchers went to Poulsbo, WA, a few days ago for our annual holiday bash. First stop was the quilt store, where we pounced on this chocolate fabric and finished off the bolt.

So many possibilities ... pillows, aprons, toilet seat covers, little framed pieces ... or maybe I'll just stretch my yard over a foam core board and hang the whole thing in the sewing room.

Poulsbo is a little Scandinavian town, and it looks like those Vikings made a pit stop at the chocolate shop. My kind of guys.

After the quilt shop, we exchanged our quilt blocks over lunch. Here are the four that I made. A year ago, we each chose a fabric that we liked and gave a piece to each of the other Nuts. Then we had a year to make an 8-inch block for each person, incorporating their fabric.

I knew right away that I wanted to do houses, because we meet each month in each other's homes. But I waited until two days before the deadline to make them because sometimes I just need that deadline pressure.

My houses aren't nearly as cute as the ones is Laura Wasilowski's new book, which we found at the quilt store. She really brings charm to hers with fanciful embroidery using her own hand-dyed threads.

Here are the blocks, showing which fabric I was given for each one. They were really fun to make.

These little buildings that we could see from our restaurant booth reminded me of the houses in my blocks (and of colorful Scandinavian houses).

And at the fabric store, I snapped this photo of fabric cleverly bundled in tree and star shapes.

Have a colorful New Year!

A little red and green

2011-12-28T17:27:00.000-08:00

The party's over, the kids have left, Dave is back at work, and I'm digging out of the wrapping paper, backlogged e-mails and dirty dishes.

Before I get back to the cleanup, here's a little bit of green and red from our Christmas. The green grass and bubbly is from an outrageously fun eight-hour food and drinkathon at the home of good friends Duane and Paula.

The red is my kitchen table with little white lights that will stay up ALL winter -- something necessary in the dark Northwest.

Have a colorful day

Merry Christmas to all!

2011-12-25T00:20:00.000-08:00

Bunners and I wish you all

a very Merry Christmas!

And the answer is ... Seattle!

2011-12-22T15:34:00.000-08:00

The Feet and Forks at Starbucks in Seattle's Pioneer Square,
with a Cow Chips cookie bag from next door.

Three alert readers correctly identified the mystery city as Seattle! The first one to get it was Michigoose (of Michigan), so congratulations to her!

The Fabulous Feet and Forks, with me in my 20-year-old
Southwestern coat that I bought at a mall in Manhattan, KS.

We took the ferry from Bremerton to Seattle and walked the short distance to historic Pioneer Square. Fortified with warm Cow Chips cookies and Starbucks coffee, we continued our walk through Pioneer Square, playing with the sweater-wrapped trees and window shopping at art galleries.

The Northwest is a hot bed of art glass. Most galleries carry it, and at the Glasshouse Studio you can watch glass artists at work.

The guy in back is working with molten glass.

Due to Seattle's location on the Puget Sound, you also see a lot of references to marine life. This is another view of the mural in the last post, but here you can see the scale next to the woman passing by.

Looking DOWN at the Space Needle from Columbia Center.

Everyone knows about the view from the Space Needle, but if you want to look DOWN at the Space Needle go to the 73rd-floor Sky View Deck of Columbia Center. It's twice the height of the Space Needle, 1,049 feet above sea level, with a 270-degree view of the city, mountains, highways and the Puget Sound. It only cost us $3 each (senior rate) and there were only a few other people there, so it was quiet, peaceful and dramatic.

Noontime gray skies and Mt. Rainier from our 73rd-floor perch.

From there, we hoofed it down 4th Avenue to the Public Library, known for its unusual architecture. I'd never been there before and I was horrified once we got inside by the hideous sickly glowing yellow escalators and elevators, the gray, and the cold industrialness of it all.

Weirdly colored escalator at the Seattle Public Library.

For a few minutes I thought the escalator's glowing yellow was fun. Then the novelty wore off and I decided it was wrong on so many levels. You'll see that same yellow in some of the other photos here, and I like it everywhere except in the library.

About the best thing I can say for the library is that it makes an architectural statement and provides some good photo ops. But I think a library should be warm and welcoming and make you want to spend the whole day there learning, reading and dreaming.

This library just made me want to GET OUT.

View from inside the prison -- I mean library.

From there, we found refuge in The Teddy Bear Suite, below, at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel. It's the polar (pun intended) opposite of the library.

We went there to see the hotel's decorated trees but discovered they'd been auctioned off. Instead, we got to see this suite decorated entirely with teddy bears, green feathers, red glitter and lime ornaments.

Then it was up the hill and over to the gingerbread train station display at the Sheraton. Pretty impressive.

The exhibit depicted train stations from around the world, including the one above from New Zealand and the one below from the North Pole. (If you've seen the holiday TV show about Rudolph and the Island of Misfit Toys, you'll recognize the characters below.)

So there you have it! Another glimpse into an exciting day with the Feet and Forks. (Yes, we did live up to our name and use our forks for a late lunch at a brew house. But I forgot to take photos before the plates were cleared away.)

Have a colorful day!

Color in the Mystery City

2011-12-20T22:17:00.000-08:00

Can you name the famous American city where I took these photos last week?

My mission was to find COLOR in the city. The only hint I'll give is that this city is known for its greyness much of the year.

Anybody want to take a guess? I'll announce the answer this week.

Have a colorful day!

More Comfort Quilts come together

2011-12-15T16:30:00.000-08:00

It's been really grey again here,

so I feel the need for

A BLAST OF COLOR.

The quilt above does the trick. It was one of the new quilts for breast cancer patients that was finished in November when the "Comfy Quilters" met at Harbor Quilts in Gig Harbor.

I worked on borders for the one above. The center was donated, already pieced in a fractured block pattern. We added a few borders to make it big enough for a patient to snuggle under during chemo treatments or at home.

This simple but striking one, above, comes together on the design wall.

Further down on the design wall were these half-square triangle layouts, which weren't from our group but I took a photo anyway because they were so cheerful. More of the comfort quilts are bagged up on the table, ready to take to the hospital.

Meanwhile, this zinger was pieced from long strips joined on the diagonal. Lots of movement.

Have a colorful day

Sea stars, giant nudis and harbor lights!

2011-12-11T21:58:00.000-08:00

An ochre sea star from Gig Harbor eating a mussel.

I know that sea stars eat shellfish by prying open the shells with their suction tube feet, inserting their stomachs into the hapless creatures and digesting their innards, but I never saw it in person until earlier this month.

Now you've seen it, too! That's an ochre star eating a mussel, above. Below is the same star all hunched up in the middle with the mussel held underneath.

The same star, hunched over its meal.

I was volunteering at the Harbor WildWatch touch tanks Dec. 3 while the crowds waited for Santa's arrival and the community tree lighting. One of our naturalists found the sea star and put it in our pool at the end of the dock, where I got to explain to everyone what was going on.

Another sea star in the touch tank.

But that wasn't the only activity on the pier that day. Check out the sea gull, bunnies, dogs and diver, all waiting for Santa and the lighting of the tree.

Miss Lizzy

Our Harbor WildWatch diver, Mike Behrens, gears up to jump into the chilly water and bring up interesting critters for the touch tanks.

I leaned over the water and took some photos of the marine creatures attached to the pier, with the blue sky and me reflected in the water.

This huge sea slug is the Dedronotus rufus.

The Puget Sound area has some HUGE sea creatures. One of our local marine biology experts, Dave Behrens, said this red-tipped nudibranch is the biggest Dedronotus rufus he's ever seen, and he's written books on nudibranchs! Look how big it is compared to the girl viewing it in the touch tank:

Nudibranchs are incredibly varied and beautiful. Look at the opalescent colored one below, the Dirona albolineata, sometimes called the "frosted nudibanch." Dave said they don't even get half this big in California.

The beautiful Dirona albolineata sea slug.

Nudibranchs are popularly called "sea slugs," although not all sea slugs are nudibranchs.

Kids love the Harbor WildWatch touch tanks.

Even the boats got into the Christmas spirit, decked out in colored lights while waiting for the big tree to be turned on. And here's that tree:

Have a colorful day!

My camera dies, like a salmon

2011-12-07T18:03:00.000-08:00

Me and my trusty camera, the day before it died.

My friend, my constant companion, my blogging buddy, my camera, has died.

Its final assignment, fittingly, was documenting the spawning salmon making their last valiant thrashings in Donkey Creek before they expired.

Here are some of the salmon, writhing and resting, then dying. That's what my camera did.

After faithfully capturing the salmon, my camera and I went to a little cafe near the creek and had lunch. Then we stepped out onto the deck to get a photo of the sun-splashed white sailboats in the harbor before heading home, and my camera had a seizure and died!

The lens shuddered and clicked and tried to go out, then clicked frantically and tried to go in, and ... it was awful! It's quite dead. I'm not getting a new one until the mourning process is over. It was like an extension of myself.

My final shot at Donkey Creek Park was this memorial bench with beautiful carvings of the salmon.

Rest in peace

A Northwest Thanksgiving

2011-12-01T17:31:00.000-08:00

I know I'm a week late on Thanksgiving, but I can't move on to Christmas decorating until I get this out.

First the color

I bought the napkins last year and then saw the same fabric at the big box store, so I bought enough to make a tablecloth. It was already the perfect width for our table, so all I did was zig-zag across the two cut ends and toss it in the washer and dryer to help the edges get fuzzy and texturey.

Sunflower napkin rings got recycled from last year (see Thanksgiving Color Feast), and the little pumpkins and squash in the centerpiece got recycled from my friend's Goodwill box.

Duane got recycled, too. Here he is a year later savoring a fresh oyster and a glass of Northwest bubbly.

There was NO TURKEY at this feast (except for Dave and Duane). We stayed true to the Northwest and had salmon and fresh oysters, fall veggies from our garden and a LOT of wine from Washington and Oregon.

Here's Dave with a beer, a steak, and two salmon filets on the cedar plank covered with rock salt before baking. The thick steak is for a guest who mainly likes steak and brownie batter (college student, female).

Dr. Dave says you can never get enough salt, steak or beer. But what does he know? He only puts people to sleep. (Intravenously, with beer.)

We tried to be fairly healthy with the appetizers. I filled endive spears with hummus and roasted red pepper strips. The other tray has rosemary crackers, brie and fig spread. Paula brought the bowls of spiced nuts -- one spicy and one sweet.

The thank-you card Paula sent goes perfectly with the Thanksgiving flowers!

I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving. Now, onward to December.

Have a colorful day

More from Artistry of Quilts in Gig Harbor

2011-11-25T17:45:00.000-08:00

Detail from "Art Doesn't Have to Match Your Sofa,"
by Pat Rosenthal.

Let's get right down to it -- individual quilts from the Artistry of Quilts exhibit at the Harbor History Museum in Gig Harbor, WA. I gave a little overview in the last post, and here are some details. I'm sorry the photo quality isn't that great, but we couldn't use flashes.

My advice is to see them in person, and you have until Dec. 4. See the museum's web site here -- http://www.harborhistorymuseum.org/ -- for directions, hours, etc.

"Yesterday," by Ruth Newell Reilly.

The show has everything from antique to traditional to contemporary art quilts. Above is a superb tumbling block quilt by Ruth Newell Reilly with 936 different fabrics. (She works at the local quilt shop, which might explain her access to that much fabric.)

"Louise," by Ruth Newell Reilly.

Here's a different style of quilt by Ruth. "Louise" is colored with crayons and embellished with hand embroidery, like we did with our guild's raffle quilt shown in the last post.

Detail of "Louise"

"Christmas in WaCAMONGA," by Carol Arnold.

Here is an example of beautiful applique and hand quilting by Carol Arnold, who started the Comfort Quilt Project that I've blogged about often. I thought WaCAMONGA was an exotic real location, but Carol said it's a name she made up using Washington and California. Look at all those circles and movement!

Detail showing fine applique and hand quilting.

"My Garden of Wool Flowers," by Susan Lester.

Here is a folk art applique quilt, above, by Susan Lester. She made hers with wool instead of cotton.

Detail of "Nostalgia," by Kat Baasch.

Kat Baasch makes beautiful hand embroidered quilts, like this sweet one called "Nostalgia."

"Nostalgia" embroidered quilt by Kat Baasch.

Antique crazy quilt, "Signs of the Times," circa 1880s.

Here is a more complex type of embroidered quilt, above. It's an antique crazy quilt with a dazzling variety of embroidered stitches between the crazy patches. The quilt is one of Janet Larson's many antique quilts that are on display in the exhibit.

"Crazy Safari," by Janet Larson.

Janet Larson is one of our queens of crazy quilting, and you can tell why from the detail of her hand embroidery on this African inspired crazy quilt.

Detail of "Crazy Safari"

There is a large display of African inspired quilts and authentic African art in the show, including this:

The sculptures seem right at home next to Peter Gaunce's quilt, "African Beauty."

Detail of "African Beauty," by Peter Gaunce.

"African Eye Dance," by Pat Rosenthal.

I couldn't get a closeup of the quilt above because it was hung so high, but it vibrates with energy. You can almost feel the African drum beats when you stand below it. It's by Pat of the red sofa art quilt.

"Summer's Sudden Shower," by Delaine Gately.

The quilt above is a dazzling example of Delaine Gately's art. She's known for her shimmery, sparkly, embellished quilts and wearable art. I thought I had a closeup of this, but I don't. You'll have to see it in person.

Detail of "Finding Fishy," by Andrea Van Outryve.

I had the opposite problem with "Finding Fishy," above. I have a great closeup but somehow missed getting a photo of the entire quilt. Again, you'd better get down there in person. It's a really fun, beautifully colored quilt that caught the attention of all of my friends who I took to the show.

"Organza Four Patch," by Sherrie Spangler.

Here are two of my contemporary abstract art quilts, above and below. These are made with sheer white silk organza that I painted and layered to create shifting colors.

"Organza Four Patch" is a takeoff on the traditional "four patch" quilt block, which is a simple square patch made with four smaller squares.

"Searching" also has some painted cotton and metallic fabrics. They're both machine quilted, as opposed to many of the other quilts shown that were hand quilted or embroidered.

"Searching," by Sherrie Spangler.

Detail of "She's Come Undone," by Sherrie Spangler.

I hope this little taste of the exhibit will entice you to come down to the harbor and see the entire show in person. It's not huge, but it's well done. The museum and other organizers did an excellent job of giving viewers plenty of information about each quilt, as well as a good understanding about the art of quilting in general. Hope you enjoyed it!

Have a colorful day

Artistry of Quilts exhibit

2011-11-23T00:06:00.000-08:00

You have until Dec. 4 to get down to the Harbor History Museum in Gig Harbor, WA, for a fabulous quilt exhibit (yes, I'm biased, I have three quilts in it) that showcases the artistry of quilts from antiques to contemporary, with influences ranging from African, Hawaiian, native Northwest and more.

Click the museum's web site for more info: http://www.harborhistorymuseum.org/exhibits/special-exhibitions/

The rest of the museum is also a treat, with exhibits of beautiful native basketry, the local fishing and boating history, and even an old schoolhouse. If you're lucky, you can see an expert boat restorer at work. The harbor lies just beyond the museum and there are many shops and restaurants nearby.

"Searching" by Sherrie Spangler

I was thrilled to see that they used my quilt (above) as the background for one of the signs. It looks like they increased the saturation, so the colors are bolder in the sign.

This is a portion of what greets you in the main room. That's a Hawaiian exhibit in the foreground case, antique quilts along the back, and a portion of the African corner to the left. My sheer organza quilt, "She's Come Undone," is hanging from the ceiling with the light shining through.

Turning to your right, you can see these fun contemporary quilts and crazy quilt stockings.

This is the African corner, with some beautifully beaded dolls from Africa. I'll show closeups in my next post.

The antique quilts were extensively documented. Here are some, above, with part of the information sign below.

This rich velvet log cabin is from the 1860s. It's a good thing it's behind glass, because it just cries out to be touched.

The kids activity corner is one of the best I've ever seen at a quilt show. Besides providing paper, crayons, a felt design board and other supplies, the flip-display gave an excellent overview of how kids can design their own blocks:

My next post will zero in on individual quilts. Today was just an overview -- didn't want you to go on overload with too much eye candy at once!

Have a colorful day

Pirates, parrots, and pretty posies

2011-11-20T21:22:00.000-08:00

Detail of first quilt pieced by a local 13-year-old boy.

I was sitting in the foyer of our Harbor History Museum this afternoon doing hand embroidery and selling tickets for our guild's opportunity quilt when a couple carrying a big bag stopped to chat. Soon I was being treated to a show-and-tell of the treasures in the bag: a full-size pirate quilt meticulously pieced by the couple's 13-year-old grandson, plus embroidered pillowcases and a parrot pillow by grandma.

This is only HALF of the quilt, which is the first quilt made by Rhys, of Buckley, WA. He selected the fabric and did almost all of the piecing, and his grandmother embellished it with the machine embroidered black skull below.

I was so excited about discovering that a kid had done such a terrific quilt that I asked to take photos for my blog. Then grandma and grandpa pulled out the next treasure, this pillow that she embroidered with colorful parrots. They got the idea for it after seeing a bumper sticker that said,

"A parrot is my co-pirate."

As if that wasn't enough fodder for the blog post, the final treat came out of the bag:

Pillowcases with pirate skulls machine embroidered

with GLOW-IN-THE-DARK thread!

So what do pirate skulls have to do with the flowery quilt below?

Well, the "Whimsical Garden" quilt is the opportunity quilt I mentioned earlier. If I hadn't been sitting there selling raffle tickets for it I never would have met the proud grandparents and seen the pirate treasures in their bag.

Members of our Gig Harbor Quilters guild colored the flower drawings with crayons and heat set them before outlining the shapes with hand embroidery. Lynne Burkhardt did a beautiful job of designing the quilt and putting together kits for each block.

Have a colorful day!

SOLD!

2011-11-18T22:49:00.000-08:00

Two happy customers. Thanks!

The scarves sold out! Everyone's happy! My sewing will pay for the next few months of iced mochas!

Pam displays her bowl selection while I covet her skirt.

The black and white scarf went right away, and two more people ordered similar ones. As much as I love bright colors, I had a feeling the neutral one would sell early on because it's versatile. I'll keep that in mind for future bazaars.

Cards and coiled fabric bowls.

This was my first foray into selling greeting cards made from my photos, and I'm thrilled to report that I sold enough to pay for the box of 100 embossed photo mount cards and envelopes (and the photos) and still have enough blank cards left over for this year's Christmas cards.

Here are two of the cards with sunset photos that I took in Gig Harbor. Even a technologically challenged person like me can insert the text with Picasa in seconds.

Art is life and life is art

The colors of the leaves in our yard, in my scarves, in Pam's skirt ... it's all art!

Have a colorful day!

Bowls full of Bunners

2011-11-14T23:36:00.000-08:00

That bad boy Bunners wouldn't cooperate when I tried to photograph him in my fabric bowls, but I did get a few shots before I gave up.

I've been churning out bowls to sell at the holiday bazaar this Thursday. I call them:

Bowls of Color

They're a good excuse for diving into my most colorful fabrics, plus I like the meditative mindlessness of sewing around and around and around.

Now I have to figure out how to price them, which is complicated because each one is a different size. I tried to stick to just a few sizes but that took the fun out of it, so I just sewed each one until I either got tired or ran out of cording.

I should make a few more in Christmas colors, and maybe some black and gold ones for New Year's Eve. But my favorite ones to make have hot pink, orange, yellow and bright green.

Bunners likes the green ones, too.

Have a colorful day

Zooming in to abstract again

2011-11-08T22:50:00.000-08:00

I got some good feedback on the last post, so I thought I'd zoom in on a few more of my photos to show how easy it is to go from realism to abstraction. The two original photos are below.

We were kayaking on Freshwater Bay near Port Angeles, WA, earlier this fall on our trip through the San Juans and Olympic Peninsula. Here's a photo of some of the rich aquatic life.

And this sign is from the Freshwater Bay County Park where we launched our kayaks. If you're a "Twilight" fan, No. 19 on the map is La Push, known for its challenging surf conditions and for some scenes in the movies.

Click for readable view.

Have a colorful day

Zoom into abstraction

2011-11-04T22:40:00.000-07:00

Pond at Wilkinson Farm Park, Gig Harbor, WA

When people say

"I don't get abstract art,"

I don't get it.

Abstraction can just be a different way

of looking at things!

Here's how to change real life into an abstraction by just looking closer. I took the photo of the pond, above, last week. Then I cropped it closer:

and closer:

Now it looks like abstract art -- maybe inspiration for my next art quilt.
Here's another closeup from the same spot but looking in a different direction:

Here's a leaf from the same walk at Wilkinson Farm:

Cropped closer:

Rotated and cropped in a different spot:

The old farmstead is full of holly trees:

Does anyone know what these mushrooms near the pond are? Dave thinks they're poisonous:

The main reason I like to wander through Wilkinson is because of the graceful arches of branches on the paths winding through one of the holly groves:

Have a colorful day

Stormy sunset scarf

2011-10-31T21:14:00.000-07:00

Here's the result of the pile of yarn and fabric that I showed you last post that I pulled together to go with my stormy sunset photo.

It's a dream to sew through the Sulky Solvy now that I have my hair dryer plugged in beside the sewing machine to keep the Solvy unsticky.

Have a colorful day

Cookies, clouds and color bowls

2011-10-29T14:08:00.000-07:00

South of Bellinham on I-5 through car window.

As promised in my last post, here are some cloud photos that I took in my corner of Washington state over the past month. I often go back to my photos when I need color inspiration, and skies provide unlimited inspiration for the abstract work that I like to do.

Pulling together fabric and yarn from the photo's colors.

We were hurtling down I-5 last week in a rain storm, Dave driving and me stuffing my face with a custard-filled Bismarck from Rocket Donuts. (Click on that link to see a mouth-watering photo of every donut on the menu.) The sky was getting really interesting, but I couldn't take a photo and hold the donut at the same time, and it was too messy to put down. Then the brilliant yellow-orange in the top photo broke through the gray and I threw that donut down, grabbed the camera, and started clicking away. This next photo is from the same stretch of highway:

Same stretch of road, same hour, vastly different sky.

Bellingham sunset, just south of Western Washington Univ.

The fiery sunset above and below was in Bellingham last month, and I made everyone wait to go out for pizza while I excitedly snapped away. You can be sure I'll pull these out for a color fix this winter. I think these clouds look like big soft pillows.

Same Bellingham sunset, looking in different direction.

Coiled fabric bowl under construction.

During drab days -- like today -- I like to make my "color bowls." Here's one that I worked on today. I finished it by sewing two rounds of uncovered red cord to create an interesting rim. I'd like to sew a whole shelf full of sunset bowls. (I'm never up early enough to see sunrises, although that would be a nice inspiration for bowls.) I added it to my holiday bazaar stack, along with the Sulky Solvy scarves.

I took these two photos at Crescent Lake in the Olympia National Park last month. The bottom photo was taken about 14 hours after the top photo.

These two were taken during our hike on Mt. Constitution on Orcas Island. You can see all the way into Canada and to Mt. Baker and Mt. Rainier from the mountain. Take a close look at the middle island below. See that little white rectangle along the bottom edge of the island? That's a ferry.

I love the way the clouds seem to mimic the landforms -- great potential for art quilt design ispiration!

I just found this little book at a natural history museum and am going to use it to learn my cloud formations. The author, Gavin Pretor-Pinney, is the founder of The Cloud Appreciation Society, a global organization that fights "blue sky thinking." (Although I have nothing against blue skies.) He lives in Somerset, England. Check out the website, www.thecloudappreciationsociety.org for some fantastic cloud photos.

Last but not least ... the cookies! I haven't had many food photos in the blog lately because my kitchen buddy, Julia, isn't home. But last night's chilly, rainy weather forced me to whip up a batch of chocolate chippers and eat a half dozen warm from the oven. You do what you gotta do.

Hope this post has inspired you to look up and see the clouds.

Have a colorful day

Clouds like snow

2011-10-28T15:22:00.000-07:00

From my airplane window

Clouds

like

snow

"Clouds like snow." That's all I could think of as I flew over these clouds somewhere east of Seattle. The sky, its colors, its clouds, the atmosphere have been my main artistic inspiration for a long time. (The quilt from the last post was inspired by outer space photos taken by the Hubble.)

I'm preparing another blog post with more cloud photos from my recent Northwest travels -- the only problem is trying to narrow down the selection! Be back soon.

Have a colorful day

Art inspires poetry in "Deep Spaces"

2011-10-26T15:36:00.000-07:00

Visiting my quilt in the "Deep Spaces" exhibit in Edmonds, WA

Last week I headed to Edmonds, WA, north of Seattle, for the ArtsCrush opening that included the "Deep Spaces" fiber exhibit that I'm in. A very special treat -- an honor, really -- was getting to hear the Floating Mountain Poets read their poems inspired by our art. The poets chose the pieces they wanted to write about after seeing the photos and titles of our work, but not our artists statements.

"My" poet, David Jones -- check him out at www.djonespoet.com -- hit a home run. I wanted to pump my fist in the air and yell, "Yes, yes!" as he read, but I'd never actually do that because I'm quiet and reserved. So here he is, and here is his poem:

David Jones, left, reading his poem inspired by my quilt.
Another of the Floating Mountain Poets, right, listens.

Other Worlds

By David Jones

I want to remember a place like this
with warm colors and nice lines
a place where I can float in my dreams
and visit the suns of galaxies
in universes of pastel DNA chains
where the hills of green rise like towers
where the skies come alive
like being inside a kaleidoscope
filled with warm water
and there is a beach
with waves of sand that change in colors
and confuses you
as to where the sky ends
and you want to lie on this beach
watch the multitude of suns dance
for the gods and goddesses
who reign over a place
that defies boundaries
in a time of seeming chaos
with the elements in flux
a muse has come
gifted the hand of the artist
conveyed the vision
contained the dream of eternity
into a form you can understand

After the reading, we got to meet and pose for pictures in front of the quilt. I hope to hear him in person again some day, along with the rest of the fabulous Floating Mountain Poets.

Two days later I spotted this floating cloud mountain in Bellingham and snapped it as it sailed beyond the evergreen.

P.S. "Deep Spaces" will hang through Dec.9 at the Edmonds Conference Center. It will be part of the Edmonds Art Walk Opening on Nov. 17.

Have a colorful day

Blow drying the Solvy

2011-10-23T17:48:00.000-07:00

I think I've solved the problem of the sticking Sulky Solvy from the last post. Thanks to everyone's comments, I decided to zero in on the idea that the stickiness might be caused by the high humidity here in western Washington (which we have about 11 months out of the year). In a blast of creativity and laziness, I thought:

Maybe I can blow dry it!

It worked! Just before stitching the Solvy sandwich, I blasted it with the hair dryer for a few seconds on each side. I stitched the whole scarf with only a little sticking, and as soon as I blew it again with the dryer I was good to go. I took the final result outside to photograph it against our Japanese maple.

Thanks again to everyone who offered suggestions.

Have a colorful day

Silk and yarn no-knit scarves

2011-10-13T21:48:00.000-07:00

Here's what I've been working on this week ...

Scarves to sell when the holiday bazaars begin.

They start with these strips of luscious feather-weight silk from half-yard cuts that I bought years ago in Taos. The price was right, the colors were better than anything I could paint or dye myself, and I knew that just a little would go a loooong way.

I especially like the one that shades from white to black -- the colors of Seattle in winter. So here's how I started my "Seattle Winter Scarf" (above). First I put down a piece of water-soluble stabilizer (I used Sulky Solvy) the size of the finished scarf. Next, arrange strips of silk, yarn and anything else you'd like to include. Here's a closeup:

Then cover it with another piece of stabilizer and pin the layers together with safety pins. Take it to the sewing machine and sew evenly all over, being careful to anchor everything in at least one direction. Then swish it around in water to dissolve the stabilizer, hang it to dry, and you now have a light, airy, one-of-a-kind scarf!

My only problem is that the machine foot has been sticking to the stabilizer after the first few inches, slowing things down considerably.

Every inch or so I have to raise the foot and tug everything forward. I've tried different feet (walking and regular), I've tried lowering the dogs and doing free-motion, I've tried different weights of Sulky Solvy, but nothing works.

Does anyone have any suggestions? This is an old technique, so a lot of you have probably tried it. Is there a better product?

Anyway, I slog along just because I get a rush from combining the colors and fancy yarns. When the sun came out a few days ago I took everything outside for photos so you can see some of the finished scarves along with the fabric and yarns that went into them.

I'm thinking of combining this brilliant blue with the black-gray-white silk for a "Seattle Summer and Winter Scarf." I'll work in green yarn for the trees.

Suggestions welcomed on the Solvy problem!

Have a colorful day

You're invited ...

2011-10-13T20:33:00.000-07:00

"Other Worlds," by Sherrie Spangler

"Deep Spaces" fiber exhibit

and

Edmonds ArtsCrush Opening

Thursday, Oct. 20, 5-8 p.m.

Edmonds Conference Center

201 4th Ave. N., Edmonds, WA 98020

I'd love to meet any of you who happen to be in the Edmonds, WA, area next Thursday for this opening. My quilt, "Other Worlds," will be in the show. As part of the annual ArtsCrush, a local poets group will write poetry about the works in the exhibit, so I can't wait to see what's written about mine.

I hope to be there for most of the evening, unless traffic sets me back. Anyway, if you're there be sure to introduce yourself. You'll be able to recognize me because I'll be wearing colors to match the quilt!

The exhibit runs through Nov. 30, then it will travel to Sam Houston University Museum Jan. 10-March 12, 2012; and the LaConner (WA) Quilt and Textile Museum March 28-June 24, 2012.

Cheers to Larkin Van Horn

or organizing the traveling exhibit!

Have a colorful day

A storm at sea ...

2011-10-11T13:49:00.000-07:00

Crossing from Whidbey Island to Pt. Townsend, WA, on the ferry.

Your intrepid reporter got confused on the last post. I thought I had told you about the storm at sea, but I didn't. So here is my dispatch.

We arrive at the ferry departure point on Whidbey Island, reservations in hand for the ferry to Pt. Townsend:

That's us in line with the kayaks on top of the Toyota Venza. Have you seen the TV ads for the Venza, the ones where the grown kids worry that their empty-nester parents will be bored without them? Then the ads cut to the parents laughing as they unload their outdoor gear from the Venza and take off on their mountain bikes/horses/whatever. I guess we fit the demographic.

Here's another view from the ferry landing.
Notice the threatening clouds.

Anyway, the sky was very dark and the winds were gusting at gale force, so they told us they might not be able to cross. The last trip had been canceled and our boat was being tossed around out in the water because the captain didn't know if he could dock it safely. Veteran ferriers that we are, we were prepared to wait. We pulled out our sandwiches, chocolate bars, coffee and books and settled in along with everyone else in line. An hour or two later they decided to take a chance and we all drove on.

Here's a view from inside the ferry. It was rocking so much that they tied all the doors shut and roped off the stairways. That was a first for us.

It was sort of exciting!

Instead of a straight crossing, the captain had to zig zag into the wind, which meant a lot of VERY sharp turns that left us looking down into the maelstrom. The first time it happened he didn't warn us what he was doing and I thought we might be capsizing. He also hadn't warned us yet to stay in our seats, so people were staggering all over the place like drunken pirates, trash cans were sliding around and I hated to think about the poor people in the restrooms.

I still wasn't too worried, though, because I didn't think the state of Washington would put itself in the position of drowning hundreds of tourists, what with liability issues.

Before they told us to stay seated I managed to get a few shots of some of the art in the main deck. I'm a really big fan of public art and would hate to see it go away.

Our boat was the Salish. Luckily we didn't need life preservers.

We made it safely to Pt. Townsend, where we had an excellent dinner in a snug little restaurant on the water called T's that also had excellent art. My photo isn't so excellent, but you can get the idea. It was nice to see something other than gray.

More updates later

on the water, skies, trees and art

of the Pacific Northwest!

Have a colorful day

Orcas Island and Friday Harbor inspiration

2011-10-10T18:50:00.000-07:00

The goat looks like it's part of the mural on Orcas Island. Love it!

When your intrepid reporter last blogged about our recent Pacific Northwest trip, we were on the ferry in gale force winds crossing from Whidbey Island to Pt. Townshend on our way to hiking through the Olympic rain forest. Allow me to back up and give you some color and inspiration from the first week, which was in the San Juan Islands.

Signs on Orcas Island.

These first photos are from Orcas Island, which has a charming little central village called Eastsound and artists scattered throughout the island. It also has Mt. Constitution in Moran State Park with spectacular views of the islands, Canada, Mt. Baker and Mt. Ranier as well as miles of hiking, camping areas and Mountain Lake, where we kayaked.

View from Mt. Constitution.

The art above and below is from Crow Valley Pottery (near the goat), on Orcas Island. They have a store in Eastsound, but these shots are from their studio in the country, which has been there since 1959. We spent a long time meandering along garden paths studded with pottery and other art, including the bead-embedded bench below:

Cement bench embedded with beads.

The wood carvings above and below are part of the same large piece, "Tribute," by Todd Spalti, on display in the village of Eastsound. His artist statement tells the story of how he was inspired by several creation myths. My photos don't do it justice; I couldn't get good lighting or a good overall shot.

Speaking of big black birds, here's another piece of art from Crow Valley Pottery:

In the Northwest, ferries are a part of life. When I first moved here and started riding the ferries, you couldn't pull me away from the deck and the passing scenery. Now that I've gotten used to them, I spend more time sitting inside working on the puzzles that are left set up on tables.

On the ferry from Orcas Island to Friday Harbor.

Ferry crowd disembarking in Friday Harbor.

We spent a rainy day browsing in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. Most engrossing was the Whale Museum:

Also fascinating was a long mural by Annie Howell-Adams about the local fishing industry:

It was BIG. Part of the sign told us we could "Meet the artist, down the street at Funk and Junk Antiques," but we didn't have time ... maybe next trip.

I don't want to bore you by turning this into a family travelogue, but I have to include one more shot, of the bakery case at the hotel/restaurant where we waited for the ferry on Orcas. I had three large, warm chocolate croissants there during our five days on the island.

Have a delicious day!

Cancer Comfort Quilts on Earthbongo!

2011-10-07T11:44:00.000-07:00

Go Gena!

My friend Gena picked this bright quilt made by our Gig Harbor Comfort Quilt Project when she started chemo. She just finished the treatments and is busy embracing life. Please send her your good thoughts!

Also, I was invited to be a guest blogger for earthbongo.com, and I'm excited to announce that they just published my article about the Comfort Quilt Project. You can read about it here:

http://blog.earthbongo.com/2011/10/quilts-wrap-900-breast-cancer-patients-in-love/

I hadn't heard about earthbongo until I got an invitation to become involved after one of their interns (a new quilter) found my blog. It's based in Seattle, and it's goal is to "create the world you want one project at a time." So my project for earthbongo was to tell people how they could start their own Comfort Quilt group or become involved in the Gig Harbor one. We'll see if it ripples out.

Have a colorful day

Anacortes color and mystery knitting

2011-10-06T15:27:00.000-07:00

Downtown art in Anacortes, WA.

Well I cannot believe that no one knew this pole sweater from the last post was in:

ANACORTES, WA!

It's in front of Ana-Cross Stitch yarn and stitchery emporium at 719 Commercial Ave. You can see a full view in my last post.

I went inside and asked about it and found out that a group of local knitters called the Cultured Pearls (or maybe Perles) sat inside the store's window for a week knitting it to help publicize a Relay for Life Walk for breast cancer research.

You can see another one -- around a tree -- from Bellingham, WA, on my blog here: http://sherriequilt.blogspot.com/2011/08/colors-of-bellingham.html

Anacortes is a very colorful town, as you can see from this red room in a downtown bookstore, Watermark Book Co., 612 Commercial Ave. It's a kitchen in the back of the store, with the table and counters spread with food books. What a nice, cheery spot that would make for spending a gray, rainy, Northwest winter day. Friendly staff and great book selection, also.

Then it was onto the ferry -- Anacortes is the jumping off point for ferries to the San Juan Islands. We took the one to Orcas Island, where we kayaked, hiked and ate for five days. Photos to come.

My daily iced decaf nonfat no-whip mocha.

Have a ferry colorful day

Public knitting mystery question

2011-10-02T21:53:00.000-07:00

Can anyone tell me where I took this photo of a street pole wrapped in a beautifully knitted purple sweater?

Hint: The reason I haven't blogged in two weeks is because I was ferrying, kayaking, hiking, driving and eating my way through the more remote areas of the Pacific Northwest. I'll reveal the answer sometime this week!

Have a colorful day

Sew much inspiration from the Nuts!

2011-09-17T22:09:00.000-07:00

Another Sew Day with the Twisted Nuts

has come and gone,

and I'm still reeling from the excitement!

Linda's fun pin display.

Linda J. was our host, and we started out in her sewing room looking at some of her latest projects. She's a sewing machine in hyperdrive, churning out quilts, purses, placemats

... and she loves COLOR.

No, this isn't a sewing store. It's Linda's embroidery thread.

Linda rented time on a local quilt store's longarm machine and quilted TWO tops in one day. Here they are. That's her above. Can you tell she likes bright colors?

She also has a stash of discarded jeans, which she turns into placements like those above and bags, like the one below. I love the way she tucked a napkin in the pocket of one placemat and included a belt on the bag.

Besides denim placemats, she had a stack of colorful, reversible ones in the kitchen like these. It was pure coincidence that the latte mug Nancy brought from home matched the placemat:

It was a sunny, warm day so we took our handwork outside on the patio and had a relaxing afternoon munching on chocolate chip cookies, sipping iced tea, and working on our crazy quilt blocks.

Some of our crazy quilting:

Nancy and me with a contorted filbert tree.

Ten days later, darned if Nancy and I weren't touring Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island when she got all excited and started yelling,

"There's a contorted filbert!"

I felt I should pay homage to it, because a contorted filbert leaf that we used to discharge fabric last year is what led to our name:

The Twisted Nuts!

You can read about it by clicking on "Discharging With the Twisted Nuts." For some reason, that post has more page views than any of my other posts.

Have a very colorful day!

Bunners in the garden

2011-09-14T09:23:00.000-07:00

Our garden is going bonkers, with giant cabbages, Swiss chard, kale, huge cauliflower and broccoli, ripening heirloom tomatoes ... it's paradise for Bunners.

He's a little unsure here in the Swiss chard (he prefers kale), but later he discovered the parsley and perked up. Even though the garden is fenced, we don't let him run loose in it because of the eagles and hawks. Grandma is always standing by with hands ready to grab him.

Have a colorful day

Thanks, Gig Harbor Quilters!

2011-09-11T10:55:00.000-07:00

"Garden Gone Wild" by Sherrie Spangler.
Raw-edge collage, feathers, yarn, painting, beads, machine quilting.

My trunk show for the Gig Harbor Quilters guild was a few days ago, and what a fun afternoon that was! One of my friends took about 200 photos and presented them to me on a disc. She gets all the credit for the photos here, although she apologized for the warm tint. I like the effect because orange is my favorite color, which you can tell from the quilts and my dress. Thanks, Sheila!

"Winter Twilight Spirits" by Sherrie Spangler.
Painted, raw-edge collage, machine quilted.

Guild members took turns holding up my quilts, which made it easy for me to point things out. Thanks, guild!

My unfinished Lone Star top from the mid -'90s.
I'm afraid to quilt it.

I wanted to give them an idea of how I got started, way back in 1980, and how I progressed through various stages up to my current fascination with painting and layering sheer fabric. I made this Lone Star top when I moved to Texas in 1994. I still haven't quilted it because I'm afraid I'll screw it up.

"Storm Trackers" by Sherrie Spangler, from mid-'90s.

"Storm Trackers" is another one from my Texas days. I learned to paint fabric at a Jane Dunnewold workshop at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, and this is one of the first quilts I made using fabric that I painted myself. It's based on the traditional block called Hole In the Barn Door and Monkey Wrench, among others.

Detail from "Searching for the Light" by Sherrie Spangler.
Hand-painted and stamped silk, cotton and some commercial fabric.
Machine quilted.

Later, I started painting silk organza and layering it to create more depth. I entered this one (above) in a regional artists show at the Freeport Arts Museum in Illinois and beat out all the painters and sculptors to win 1st place and my own solo show. So go forth, fellow fiber artists, and venture beyond quilt shows.

Shameless bragging about my article in the Fall 2005 Quilting Arts,
"Not Bound by Tradition."

It was an opportunity for shameless bragging about my magazine and book articles. (I was a journalist before I was a quilter.) In the Fall 2005 issue, Quilting Arts Magazine wrote about The Three Muses, the little art quilt group I belonged to in Illinois. In conjuction, I wrote a separate article called "Not Bound by Tradition" about unconventional quilt edges.

One of the Muses, Julaine Lofquist-Birch, has a really fun blog at http://julaine.blogspot.com/ The other Muse is Bonnie Saxby. I can't say enough about the value of forming your own little art quilt support group. Thanks, Julaine and Bonnie!

Here's my project that was in Lark's "Creative Quilting With Beads."

This small fiber and beaded heart project was in Creative Quilting With Beads. The yoga girl in the background, made largely with flattened Hershey Kisses wrappers, was the February 2006 calendar girl for the Quilting Arts Magazine calendar. I went through a long Hershey Kisses phase where I bought every color in the name of art.

One of my favorite quilted jackets, from almost 20 years ago!

I used to do a lot of wearable art, like this jacket. That was in my Kansas stage back in the early '90s when I was learning a lot of techniques from the local sewing store. It's amazing how many garment techniques can be used for art quilts -- pleats, tucks, facings, piping, gathers, buttonholes, zippers. Thanks Bernina House of Manhattan, KS (since closed)!

"The Purple People Celebrate Summer" by Sherrie Spangler.
Painted, raw-edge collage, machine quilted.

I'm in a prolonged Purple People phase. A long, long time ago I found some fabulous purple batik fabric printed with these dancing purple people. I bought a few yards, and they have been popping up in my quilts and garments ever since.

Two versions of "Julia," with my daughter's photo copied onto fabric.
The quilt on the right was for the 2007 Journal Quilt Project.

An invaluable motivation for me to develop my skill set was the Journal Quilt Project started by Karey Bresenhan of Quilts, Inc., as an exercise in creativity to encourage quilt artists to stretch and grow. Printing photographs on fabric was something I had wanted to do for years but was hampered by my technophobia. The Journal Quilt Project was the impetus to get over my fear and just do it, and that's how I made the quilts above.

I participated during all four years of the project, and Karey actually bought my first set of Journal Quilts for the Quilts, Inc., collection. Thanks, Karey!

"To Weave or Not to Weave" by Sherrie Spangler.
Hand-painted, woven, machine quilted.

Another great motivator was belonging to PAQA (Professional Art Quilt Alliance at http://www.artquilters.com/) when I lived in Illinois. They had numerous challenges, such as the one where we had to make two quilts based on the word two, or to, or too. The one above uses two colors (pinks and greens) and the title uses "to." The one below uses "too" as in "Too Much Fun." Thanks, PAQA!

"Too Much Fun" by Sherrie Spangler.
Mostly hand-painted fabric, collaged, beaded, machine quilted.

"Transparent Nine-Patch" by Sherrie Spangler, 2010.
Hand-painted silk organza, yarn, lame, sheer backing.

My current fascination (besides embellishing with hand embroidery) is using layers of hand-painted silk organza and other sheers. "Transparent Nine-Patch" is one of my favorites.

Detail from "The Chocoholic's Food Pyramid" by Sherrie Spangler.

So thanks again, Gig Harbor Quilters, for giving me a reason to dig these oldies out of the closet and get myself organized.

P.S. The guild welcomes visitors and new members. It meets at 1:30 p.m. the first Wednesday of the month at the Harbor History Museum, 4121 Harborview Drive, Gig Harbor, WA 98332.

Be fearless in your art,

Eat more chocolate,

and have a colorful day!

Getting ready for my quilt talk

2011-09-05T22:55:00.000-07:00

I should be getting ready for the lecture/trunk show I'm giving to my quilt guild on Wednesday, but instead I'm blogging about it. I needed a break after trying to figure out how to organize and condense everything from about 30 years of quilting.

First step was to haul out all those quilts that have been rolled up and piled in the closet since we moved here three years ago. This house is a lot smaller than the last one, so more quilts went in the closet and fewer went on the walls.

Do I dare show my very first quilt -- the king-size lumpy unfinished red and brown one above that I started around 1980? I had never even MET a quilter at that point, but I had been sewing clothes since I was 11 and decided to teach myself how to quilt from library books. I think I broke most of the rules of traditional quilt making.

Here's another traditional one, using the Friendship Stars block, that I made in the '90s after I had learned to quilt properly.

This sparkly wall quilt is one of my favorites because it always makes me smile. It's based on the picture below that my daughter made when she was 5. I call it "Julie's Happy Fish."

Here are some from the late '90s when I had started to paint most of my fabric, hence the softer color palette.

These are from the early 2000's (would that be '00s?). The top one is from my Hershey Kisses wrapper stage, when I collected all the colors and ate chocolate in the name of making art. The black one showing on the left is a piece I made in reaction to the 9-11 attacks.

I have more, but blogger isn't letting me upload them. Maybe it's a hint that I should get back to work! Wait a minute, I'm not supposed to be working on Labor Day ...

Have a colorful day

Sunflowers and purple cauliflower

2011-09-03T16:11:00.000-07:00

Our sunflowers are glorious!

Months ago, our neighbor Rick asked if we wanted four little sunflower seedlings that he had started. He had a dashboard full of them and was delivering them to neighbors who liked to garden. We said "Sure!" and planted them against the 8-foot-high deer fence that surrounded our vegetable garden.

I am absolutely thrilled at how they've grown! I've never had sunflowers in my yard, even though I have artificial ones all through the house.

And take a look at the beautiful color of this purple cauliflower that Dave planted. It tastes sweet and mild.

He's also having great success with cabbages, both green and purple. Above are some of the cabbage leaves.

And here is Farmer Dave himself, with beans on the left, potatoes in front and corn on the right.

Have a colorful day

Northwest ferry art

2011-08-31T20:22:00.000-07:00

"Spawning Salmon"

The Ferry Junky (me) and Idaho Beauty (quilting friend from Idaho) took the Seattle-Bremerton ferry this week. Before we even got on the boat in Bremerton, I found all of this great Northwest art in the passenger terminal. The first four are tiles set in the wall at eye level showing local marine life and maps.

"Dungeness Crab"

"Giant Octopus"

"Hood Canal Shrimp"

Running along the top of the passenger terminal wall was this long piece inspired by petroglyphs in our region.

Once on the ferry, there was more art scattered throughout the seating area. I only got one photo, of this Great Blue Heron piece. You can see the long row of ferry windows reflected in the glass.

Note how the gray of the art is identical to the gray of Seattle as we pulled in:

As we waited to disembark, I shot this photo (above) of the huge Norwegian Pearl cruise ship, which dwarfed the buildings of downtown Seattle. It's 965 feet long, holds 2,394 passengers, has 12 restaurants and 14 bars and lounges. Here's a link showing lots of colorful photos of the ship: http://cruises.about.com/od/norwegianpearl/ss/norwegian_pearl.htm

By the time we got on the ferry to leave Seattle, the sky was crisp and blue. I shot the photo above of another ferry as we waited to take off. Once under way, we watched this parasailer being towed by a boat as it swooped over the water like a bird.

Have a colorful day

Floating Feet and Forks

2011-08-25T00:01:00.000-07:00

The Feet and Forks hit the water instead of the trail this week. We got a good arm workout instead of leg workout for a change. Kandi provided the kayaks and led us on a beautiful, peaceful paddle off of Raft Island.

It sprinkled, and the wind picked up on the way back, but it was a fantastic way to spend a few hours with friends. Instead of hoisting our forks at a restaurant afterward, we pulled out our picnic lunches and sat on Kandi's deck under the awning while the rain pitter-pattered on the water.

Have a colorful day

Colors of Bellingham

2011-08-22T17:28:00.000-07:00

My trip to move the kid to Bellingham went great! The afghan is in good company there, as evidenced by the colorful crocheted tree hugger outside the yarn store downtown.

Here's the afghan out of the van and all settled in its new home. Note her thrift store vintage pillowcases:

The afghan's orange, green and gold color scheme seemed to pop up everywhere, starting on the drive up with this building in Seattle:

Take a look at the orange pants and gold shirt on this performer at the Downtown Bellingham Farmer's Market (www.bellinghamfarmers.org):

These mushrooms at the farmer's market were like little works of art. I bought a box, which I plan to serve with some lemon-pepper fettucini from another market vendor.

More orange, green and gold, plus a few other luscious colors at the market:

You know how I love rabbits, so I had to snap a picture of this vendor's sign:

But the highlight of the trip was our daily morning stop at Rocket Donuts (www.rocketdonuts.com), where I nearly threw a tantrum the first day because the lady in front of me bought the last two Bavarian Bismarcks! I'd been looking forward to one of those custard-filled, chocolate-iced treats the whole drive up. Luckily for Rocket Donuts, I was able to get them the next two mornings. Here I am, beholding the bountiful Bismarck:

And here is Bunners, with the special treat we bought for him at the farmer's market:

Have a colorful day!

Sob, she's leaving!

2011-08-17T12:36:00.000-07:00

I can't believe she's leaving tomorrow! My baby is moving away for her last two years of college and we spent yesterday packing my van with her craigslist, thrifted and dumpstered possessions.

Her colors are shudderingly seventyish -- avocado green, orange, gold and purple -- but I'm proud that she has a strong sense of what she likes. And I'll admit that in the seventies I, too, craved those colors.

The exception is this tasteful white and pale blue nubby woven bedspread that was mine in the eighties. And of course, what student domain wouldn't be complete without an Indian batik tapestry such as this purple beauty. Actually, she's using it for padding and will probably lend it out to someone else.

What more can be said about this crocheted afghan other than it was one of the highlights of her thrift store/dumpster days?

Farewell, afghan.

Take good care of her ... sob.

Have a colorful day

Art, nature and similar colors

2011-08-16T20:13:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite color combinations is that luscious pinky-purple and warm orange-yellow that makes my mouth water. As I was satin stitching in pink on my yoga quilt #3 (above), I realized it's a similar combination to this sea star that I posted on the last blog:

Then I went searching in my files for a Chihuly glass piece that used those colors and I came up with this one on display at the Tacoma Art Museum:

This sunset from last summer in Gig Harbor over Wollochet Bay streaked the sky with deep pink-orange and violet. Those billowy dusky purple clouds are settled over the Olympic Mountains.

What are your favorite color combos from nature that you use in your art?

Have a colorful day!

Excitement in the touch tanks

2011-08-15T23:31:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen a cockle scoot away from a sea star? Well, you should've been at the Harbor WildWatch touch tanks last weekend at Kopachuck Beach!

Here's our kiddie pool where the naturalist put a variety of sea stars that she found on the beach at low tide. The slender orange ones are mottled stars and the purple one is an ochre star. We also found the cockle in its hinged shell (lower right). It tolerated the sunflower sea star creeping over it briefly, then ...

... out shot its HUGE muscular foot, in the photo above. It whipped the foot around and escaped from the sea star. We put it in a separate tank so it could relax. (The sunflower star is very predatory.)

This is the underside of the pink sea star, showing its little suction tube feet that allow it to creep across the sea floor.

Here is our naturalist showing two of our junior naturalists something as they collect critters for the touch tanks.

Chris, one of the junior naturalists, holds a small moon snail, which you can see better in the photo below. That's a chiton in the upper left.

This is what our HWW setup looks like at Kopachuck. (That's Farmer Dave, aka Mister Biologist, in his volunteer shirt.) The kayak rental is a business from Gig Harbor.

This goose seemed pretty interested in me. It swam straight toward me, looked at me a long time from a few feet away, then walked away after I took a few photos.

We'll set up touch tanks again on these dates:

Friday, Aug. 26, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. at Joemma State Park

Saturday, Aug. 27, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. at both Kopachuck and Penrose State Parks

This Saturday, Aug. 20, from 5-11 p.m., is a special program at Skansie Park in downtown Gig Harbor:

We'll have a diver bringing up sea critters from near the dock and placing them in touch tanks, then there will be an outdoor viewing of the Disney film "Oceans," and when it gets dark we'll set up lights in the water at the end of Jerisich Dock to attract more sea creatures.

PLEASE JOIN US!

IT'S FREE, FUN, EDUCATIONAL, AND COLORFUL!

Have a colorful day

Yoga quilt #3 and wisdom teeth

2011-08-09T19:55:00.000-07:00

Beginning of yoga mat quilt #3.

Time to get back to the studio.

I've been feeling artistically lazy and unmotivated lately, but today I had to stay home to help nurse the daughter after she had her wisdom teeth removed so I decided to start another yoga mat quilt.

Step 1: Select a background fabric (green batik) and motif fabric (hand-painted cotton from my stash).

Step 2: Iron fusible web to the back of the painted fabric, fold a center crease, and freehand draw a curvy design on one side of the crease.

Step 3: Fold in half again and cut out along the lines. Unfold and arrange shapes on background. Play with different arrangements.

A slightly different arrangement.

Step 4: Fuse those suckers down. Next will come a lot of embroidery and beading, which I'll start tonight when the sun goes down.

The sparkle comes from pearlescent paint that I mixed in with the plum.

Here is the still unfinished yoga quilt #1, above, and #2, below.

I think #2 needs more contrast -- what do you think? I haven't beaded around the outer motifs yet, but I think it will need more than that to save it. Or maybe the paler effect is OK. I need feedback on this one!

Here's a closeup of the embellishment on #2.

And here is a cheery vase of flowers brought over by our neighbor Rosemary for my daughter after her oral surgery today. Everything is from her garden, and notice how the vase matches the white flowers. Thanks, Rosemary!

Have a colorful day

Pamela's fundraiser quilts

2011-08-07T16:12:00.000-07:00

Some of Pamela's quilted fundraiser items.

One of the great things about blogs is the ability to sign up as a "follower" of blogs that interest you. Every day when I sign on, I get a list of new posts on my favorite blogs -- sort of like being handed a morning briefing at work, except instead of being about "work" it's about "play."

I always look forward to an update from the

Art of Being Pamela blog:

http://www.artofbeing-pamela.blogspot.com

So today I'm publishing a link to Pam's blog post about a project she started last year at the Michigan hospital where she is a nurse. This year, she distributed pieces of fabric that co-workers made into quilt blocks. Then she collected the blocks and turned them into two small quilts, three art quilts, three pillows and two tote bags that will be sold to raise money for the Sue Maher Foundation.

You can see more photos at her colorful blog here:

http://artofbeing-pamela.blogspot.com/2011/08/i-can-almost-see-end-to-this-project.html

Happy blogging, and thanks to all of you who "follow" me. I love seeing your faces every morning when I sign on.

Have a colorful day