A new sewing project

Yesterday I started my first art project since February, when my dad got sick and I spent the next four months shuttling back and forth between Tucson and LA. Now, with my mom safely settled in her senior care home I can finally focus on my art.

It started with a photograph that I took of my friend Linda when she visited a few years ago. We were at the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum, an amazing place. I printed the photo on a piece of 8x10 silk, above ...

... and decided it would go with this piece of fabric that I painted last summer.

The silk is textured, which gives the photo a painterly quality. It's from a sampler pack of fabric ready to print on that I bought -- I am not exaggerating -- about 20 years ago. It takes me awhile to embrace new things! 

Here it is on the fabric (different lighting conditions on the two photos) ...

... and framed with some more of my painted fabric.

I tried covering some of the orange with extra frame fabric, but I don't think that works.

After I do some embroidery and maybe beading on it I'll stretch it around a 16x20 frame like the other pieces I've done, above. I do think I have to tone down that orange, though. Maybe I'll sponge another color on top, or stamp some patterns.

It's so darn hot lately -- over 100 -- that I've switched from regular coffee to iced coffee in the mornings. And if I'm not outside by 6 AM it's too hot to walk.

To close with some love, here's a picture that my daughter-in-law, Rachel, just sent of her with Keith on their 11-year wedding anniversary vacation to Lake Michigan! Here's the link to their wedding blog post: wedding-on-farm.html

Have a colorful day

1971 sewing and other tidbits

 

In a desperate stretch to blog about something sewing related (I haven't sewed in months), I found some old photos at my parents' house featuring clothes that I made 54 years ago!!!

This is my dad in 1971 wearing flannel pajamas that I made for him for Christmas. The craziest thing is that when I was going through his clothes after he passed in April I found them in his bottom dresser drawer! They appear to have held up pretty well over half a century.

I also found this photo of me from the same time period wearing a shiny, stretchy minidress that I made to wear to my high school's Christmas dance. 

In the same pile of photos I found this one of my daughter when she was about the same age as I was in my minidress, and it was the day of her junior prom. I convinced her to have her hair and makeup done, which she resisted with all of her might. I took this photo before she washed it all away before the prom. 

Twenty-five years later, here she is with her own little girl who may or may not go to her school dances.

I miss little Juniper SO MUCH, but I'm going up to Spokane to visit her in August.

Some of Julia's Instagram posts about Juniper. She likes to wear the bucket on her head.

On my last visit to my parents' house my sister showed me a beach near their home that I never knew about in 40 years of visiting! It's only accessible by a long walk down the cliffs, and it's beautiful and wild.

Have a colorful day

We moved my mom!

I'm back home after moving my mom into her new home, a wonderful progressive care facility where she's in a small group of residents with dementia but who can still handle some degree of independence.

My youngest sister and brother helped with the move, which went way smoother than I had anticipated. Here we are in her new apartment, with her favorite chair. She offered up no resistance the day of the move and didn't complain at all on the two-hour drive from Los Angeles to San Diego County, near my brother.

We had to order a smaller sofa, but we brought the middle pillow from her old couch at home. Every night for years she has turned on her electric candles and the string of colored lights in the evening, so we were sure to bring those down. We'll be hanging pictures above the couch.

Her bedroom has a sunny view of neighborhood backyards, which I think is nice because she can see life and kids playing.

There are light-filled, comfy common areas. She gravitated toward this sitting area.

Her little group eats family style together, and they were very welcoming to her. The first night was bacon-wrapped filet mignon with baked potato, mushrooms in a sauce, and carrot cake, cheesecake and/or ice cream! Or a sandwich if preferred. (The other residents were quick to point out that they don't get filet mignon every night.)

Here she is on a very pleasant patio off the dining room. It has a potting bench where residents can help with gardening, so I hope she'll get involved in that. The staff is wonderful about getting them involved.

There are movies every night, which is something she and my dad did at home before he passed away in April. We asked the staff to escort her to and from the movies so she doesn't get lost. And they keep them busy with brain games for the dementia, physical exercise, PT if they need it. It's working out!!!

After we got back to the house, we ordered pizza and collapsed. No, actually my sister and I were still running on adrenalin so we bustled about cleaning and sorting and tossing. Then we collapsed.

We continued sorting through the hundreds of photos we were finding in drawers, including this one of our family in our Easter finest in 1972. That's me second from left.

My last morning, I took photos of little things around the house that I want to remember. This is one of my dad's caps that's always hanging in the entryway. The photo below is the view walking out the front door as I went to meet my Uber driver to go to LAX and fly home.

Hug your loved ones!

New Mexico road trip!

What's a road trip to New Mexico without Mexican food? South of the Border in Willcox, AZ, was on the way home and was a delicious way to cap off a five-day getaway.

The idea was to escape Tucson's string of 105-110 days by going to a friend's place in the cooler pine mountains of southern New Mexico, but even there it was unseasonably warm. This is the thermometer on my friend's deck outside of Silver City, and it got up to 96.

But the scenery was spectacular and a big change from the desert. Ponderosa pines, junipers and oak predominated. That's the Gila Wilderness on the horizon, where I used to backpack in my 20s.

 

This is a ruin we came across, and deer came right up to the house.

There were some cacti, like this blooming cholla, but no saguaros. The stained glass on my friend's deck gave another splash of bright color.

Here's some color from the day we wandered through Silver City, which is a laid back old hippie town with lots of art galleries and coffee shops. I think the heat had everyone moving in slow motion or staying home with air conditioning.

The Grant County Art Guild has a wonderful gallery on the main street, above. But my favorite stop was the Tranquilbuzz Coffee Shop.

From its entrance ...

... to its ceiling ...

... it definitely gave off calm vibes.

We also stopped at Western New Mexico University's history museum, above, which had a huge collection of prehistoric Mimbres pottery. Their air conditioning was out, so we didn't linger too long.

We stopped at another museum on the way home, the Amerind Museum. Its beautiful sprawling pink Spanish-style building houses a large collection of pots, jewelry and other artifacts of Native people from throughout the Americas. It's also known for its research, education and conservation in this area. No photos were allowed inside, but here are a few photos from the brochure:

The Amerind Museum is in the Dragoon Mountains of southeast Arizona, almost to the New Mexico border. It's noted for its spectacular smooth sculpted granitic rock formations, which appear suddenly as you drive along I-10. Then it was back to Tucson. Great trip!

Have a colorful day