Where's the fabric?

Yikes! I haven't blogged about anything related to art quilting in over a month! I have nothing new and worthy of showing because I've spent the last few months traveling and catching up from traveling. But to help myself get back into the swing of things, I've pulled out a few of my favorite fabric painting photos.

I painted these batches of silk and silk ribbons out on the deck when we had a few sunny days in a row a year or two ago. If I lived in the desert instead of the rain forest, I'd probably be outside painting fabric most of the year. It dries so quickly in the sun but can take a day or more inside.

The green-blue fabric draped over the fern is silk organza, which has a nice, crisp hand that makes it easy to sew without it slipping all over like some silk. I also like its semi-transparent quality, which makes it fun to layer over other colors.

Below is a little detail showing how I use some of my painted fabric. I like to layer and collage snippets of various colors and textures to create abstract pieces that feel energized.

Here's one of my Bunners quilts, with hand-painted and stenciled cotton fabric. I made it to enter the Quilting Arts pets calendar contest, but it didn't get in. (In fact, NO rabbits got in, not even for Easter.) I embellished it with hand embroidery and a shisha mirror for the eye, and some couched whiskers. Below is the model, lounging in the sun on his personal rug.

Well, next week maybe I'll get off my behind and start some exciting new projects. I'll keep you posted.

Have a colorful day

56 bags of granola and May Day

Has it really been 8 days since I've blogged! I still have nothing new from the sewing studio to write about, but yesterday did get off to a great start with a surprise May Day basket of flowers left on my front porch by my neighbor's grand- and great-granddaughters. That was a really nice surprise!

Too bad the May Day anarchists who vandalized downtown Seattle later in the day didn't just leave flowers instead. They should learn from the children.

The day ended around midnight listening to Dave use the vacuum sealer to package up 56 servings of granola for this year's canoe and kayak trips. Yum? As the clock struck midnight, he turned 59.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Dave lives for his wilderness escapes. He even gets geared up when he's in civilization, just for practice. The T-shirt aptly says "Trail Head."

Here he is on this spring's trip to California. That's him and my brother, camouflaged on the seaside rocks like two old billy goats.

That's the brother from my "Soul of an Irish Poet" blog post: http://sherriequilt.blogspot.com/2010/11/soul-of-irish-poet.html

 Have a colorful day

Spring chickens

Look at these cool chickens that Linda P. made for our sew group this month! They're little pincushions -- one for each of us. Linda made the fun placemat, too. Spring is busting out all over!

Here are some more spring chickens -- the fabulous Feet and Forks. We escaped the United States to go running around up in Victoria, B.C., and spent hours hiking through Beacon Hill Park. It's a gorgeous city park, full of flowers, ponds, a kid's animal farm, and a breathtaking path overlooking the bay. It has chickens, too:

The chickens ran around so fast I could hardly snap their pictures. We even saw some quick, hot fowl play with a rooster and one of the hens.

I wrote some more posts about Victoria here  http://sherriequilt.blogspot.com/2010/10/victoria-bc-is-for-birds.html and here http://sherriequilt.blogspot.com/2010/12/looking-up-in-victoria-bc.html in case you'd like to see more photos.

 

Have a colorful day

Happy Earth Day from Gig Harbor

Earth Day activity at Jerisich Dock in Gig Harbor, WA

Earth Day in Gig Harbor is as much about the water as it is about planting trees, since we're an old fishing village pretty much surrounded by water.

People flocked to the downtown public dock this afternoon under glorious blue skies to sun bath, stroll, walk their dogs, eat ice cream and see the Adventuress, an environmental tall ship. There were free dockside tours of the 135-foot schooner, which runs environmental education programs for kids and adults. (http://www.soundexp.org/)

At the mouth of the harbor (below), paddleboarders, a sail boat and a little motor craft passed each other near the lighthouse point.

These rental kayaks floated peacefully behind the restaurant where we stopped for lunch.

Flowers exploded from planters throughout the downtown area.

And back home, the Japanese maples by our front porch are greening up and soaking up the sun.

Have a colorful Earth Day!

Desert dispatches: Modern rock art

Ben Kinne stands beside a "rock art" panel by Greg Kinne.

Here's another installment about the La Quinta Arts Festival last month in La Quinta, CA. Today I'm featuring the remarkable art of Greg Kinne of Kinne Design Studio in Quincy, CA.  (www.gregkinne.com)

His panels, representative of primitive rock art, are made from a mix of sand, gravel and cement that is hand cast into thin panels. The images and textures are rendered with acids and metals applied to the surface, which react with the limestone in the concrete for a light-fast color. He finishes his panels with dyes.



These real rocks (above) are jumbled at the bottom of a cliff on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. The texture and color really resemble Kinne's art.

These rocks are from the desert in the Coachella Valley in Southern California. Note the squished cactus in the top photo. The natural design on the left of the rock below reminds me of a kangaroo.

Coming up soon, I'll jump back to flowers and continue our spring floral photo journey up the West Coast into British Columbia. Until then ...

Have a colorful day

Cactus flowers, moon flower and a brewery

I've been going through my 800 photos from a month in the California desert and the road trip home, and decided to dedicate one post to the flowers. So here we go, starting with cactus flowers in the Coachella Valley near Palm Springs:

Here are some other blooms from the same area:

The gorgeous tree behind our condo in Indio, CA

"Moon Flower" over the desert, Coachella Valley, CA

Then we packed it up and started the road trip home, via my parents' house near Los Angeles. There was no shortage of flowers there:


Los Angeles

Los Angeles



Los Angeles

My parents' front yard

After our ocean/L.A. visit, we headed toward the California-Nevada border to see Mono Lake and Lake Tahoe. It was COLD, WINDY, and SNOWING much of that leg, but I did spot this statue of a steer with a flowered jacket:

Much of that leg looked like this from my passenger seat:

Eastern Sierra Nevadas, near CA-NV border

After that little detour through the snow, we headed back to the sunshine and the Sierra Nevada Brewery in Chico, CA, where we parked under the brewery's solar panels near this flowering tree:

Sierra Nevada Brewery's parking lot, Chico, CA
(That's Dave's land-locked kayak)

(The brewery tour guide told us their employees get not only human health insurance, but also pet health insurance, access to massages and acupuncture, and a lot of free beer.)

Sadly for Dave, we left the brewery behind and trucked on up to Oregon, where this field of flowers greeted us the next day at a rest stop:



Rest stop between Medford and Eugene, OR


We met a really nice couple there from Oregon who were on their way back from California, where the wife had picked this bright flower near San Francisco. It was still perky after two days in the dashboard.

By the time we got to Eugene the sky wasn't quite as bright, but this mural provides year-round sunshine and flowers:



Eugene, Oregon

We ended the day back home just in time for dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant -- my way of prolonging the sunshine. I hope you're all having a great spring!

Have a colorful day