art:quilt:play

Making...

2012-01-23T18:43:00.000-08:00

Here's a little painting I made this weekend. It didn't turn out the way I planned it, but I like it anyway. Gotta let the art do its own thing.

Here's a peek at a bigger project I'm working on.
It was a lovely weekend full of making over here.

Dear January

2012-01-21T15:30:00.000-08:00

I used to loathe you January. I found you dark and depressing and loooooonnnnnggg.

But then I discovered the potential of your quiet, unscheduled weekends. I learned to see you as an opportunity for creative renewal.

And now I'm bubbling over with creative ideas, struggling to focus on just one or maybe four things at a time, to really make the most of your lovely stretches of open time. And now you are flying by so quickly when I'm having so much fun.

Release

2011-12-31T15:18:00.001-08:00

Waaaaaaaayyyy back in September when I finished up my 30 Days project, I had no intention of taking such an extended blog break. Sheesh!

See, I took pictures to share!

And I even made some art. I just never got my butt in the chair to actually share stuff with you.

All is well here. It was a happy, busy fall, full of art and work and football and fun. Much to my surprise, I chose to bring some new friends into my life. I'm still adjusting to the added busy-ness that brings, but on the whole it's been delightful!

The word RELEASE has chosen me for 2012. I already started on the solstice by releasing some emotional junk I'd been holding on to much too tightly. It feels wonderful! RELEASE has so much potential. I think it will be a good word and a good year.

I'm ready to fly into the new year. How about you?

Days 22-25 of 30 days of creativity

2011-09-26T07:11:00.000-07:00

I finished up this little piece, which mostly involved gluing things down. This is 8" by 8" collage and paint on a pre-stretched canvas. For the rubber stamps, I stamp them on tissue paper and then glue them down like any other piece of collage. Makes my inner control freak happy.

I've been collecting pretty fabric at yard sales all summer and Sunday I turned some of it into this little tote bag. I donated it to the breast cancer fundraiser we do at work, so some lucky person will win it in our raffle.

I've also been playing around with making these little charms and stringing them on necklaces which will be sold as part of the breast cancer fundraiser. Can I just say how much I love stamping words on washers?

Days 20 and 21: Resolution

2011-09-22T07:39:00.001-07:00

It's funny, this creativity thing, some days you do a bunch of work and don't have much to show for it and other days you're sick with a stomach bug and don't do much, but the little bit of fussing you manage looks good. Some of the bits and bobs resolved into reasonable compositions these past two days. Although I'm not so sure about that big flower, I think it's a little overwhelming.

This piece still needs a ton of work, but now I have a direction.

These pieces and some others I've been working on are a little different than my usual style and frankly I've been wondering what the heck I'm doing with them. So it was nice to also get a bit of resolution on that front as I recognized that I sort of have a series going on here, little composition exercises using elements that draw me in.

How did it get to be the 19th?!?

2011-09-19T17:49:00.000-07:00

Sheesh, that went really fast! I have been keeping up with my daily creativity even though I haven't kept up with the blogging. Mostly still working at bits and bobs in the background. I also attended a great Fabrications Quilt Artists meeting at Sew Uniquely You. Next month I'll be demonstrating hand embroidery stitches - contact me for more info.

Here's another little encaustic experiment. Better, but still nothing to write home about. But it's the doing that matters!

Here's some more bits and bobs. I'm s-l-o-w-l-y getting a little more organized in the studio. I do a lot of throwing different elements together to see what happens. I'm thinking this process will be facilitated by being able to find all the different elements. Just a theory. ;-)

Back on the wagon: Day 12

2011-09-13T09:27:00.001-07:00

Not much to show for days 8 - 11 as my creative time was limited to looking through books and letting ideas marinate. My friend Dianne says sometimes making art is more of an internal process. I'm going with that.

I got back to physical art making last night as I started messing around with these little pieces of wood I had covered with plaster a couple of weeks ago, inspired by this beautiful book.

The madonna piece started with a Holy Toast stamp pressed into the wet joint compound. Yesterday I carved into the dry plaster and added some paint. Needs more work but I'm not sure what.

The flower is a first attempt with encaustics. Clearly I need WAY more practice/instruction if I'm ever going to do much with this medium. I'll probably scrape this off and try again. But I'm posting a picture because it's a great example of another benefit of the 30 days of creativity plan: the crap quotient.

The crap quotient is the idea that making some really crappy art is an important part of learning and growing as an artist. When you're committed to making something every day, it's so much easier to accept the crap quotient. It's just part of the rhythm of daily making, rather than a frustrating "waste" of precious creative time.

Days 6 and 7: in the background

2011-09-07T20:28:00.001-07:00

Days 6 and 7 of my 30 days of creativity have been rather unglamorous, but very satisfying. This is the background of a small mixed media quilt I designed several months ago. I hadn't finished the quilt because it felt kinda bland and impersonal. I finally figured out that I could add both visual interest and my personality by adding the hand stitching that I love so much.

These little unglamorous "background" tasks are the reason I took on the 30 day challenge. It's the designing that's exciting. The followthrough is more challenging for me. Sitting still to do all the little unglamorous tasks is easy to let go by the wayside, especially when I'm tired after a busy work day. But the added incentive of the 30 day challenge has me turning in relief each day to these simple tasks, all these little things that happen in the background of making art.

Days 3, 4 and 5

2011-09-05T14:56:00.001-07:00

Wow, Pistol and I are loving this Monday off after my trip to Seattle!

Days 3 and 4 were busy with driving and football but I managed to get some stitching done in the car. Today I finished up the necklace I've been working on. I loved the wire work I did on this and have lots more similar ideas to play with.

I didn't forget day 2

2011-09-03T10:03:00.001-07:00

I was just too tired to post after working and pigging out in the park.

I just love the sweet little samplers that Charlotte Lyons cooks up and I when I saw the cat and the rolling hills in her latest design I couldn't resist. I'll be working on this more today in the car.

Testing blogger+ and 30 days of creativity

2011-09-01T10:05:00.001-07:00

So I've been playing around making these bits and bobs and this morning I sat down and started putting them together. And that counts for day one of the 30 days of creativity challenge my friend and fellow artist Celeste called on me to join. If I can just make this blogger+ app work, I'll have an easier time blogging about my daily creativity.

Wish me luck or, better yet, join me!

feeling crafty

2011-08-12T08:38:00.000-07:00

I've whiled away some very happy hours this summer working on some fun little crafty projects I've dreamed up. This little pillow was crafted from some old quilt scraps I picked up at a yard sale.

One of my bigger projects earlier in the summer was getting my guest bedroom whipped into shape. I had purchased a lovely vintage bed frame at an Angel's Attic sale last fall but it didn't have bed slats. So I bought some 1"x6" boards and used my power saw to make my own bed slats (girl power!). I cut one of the scrap pieces to just the right size for a little beach sign and painted up this pretty for my mantle.

Last weekend I finally picked out 4 of the beautiful fat quarters I've been collecting and actually made this little bag that I'm currently using as a purse/journal bag. It even has gussets and a magnetic snap! It was soooo fun to make!

I'm thinking about doing a little tutorial for the bag if I can figure out how to explain the gussets. Maybe one for the beach sign too?

Art Party!

2011-08-08T06:40:00.000-07:00

The backyard is finally whipped into lovely beautiful shape and last week I hosted an art party.

We set up a table under the maple tree (with a side table for treats!) and got busy making crowns, painting masks and journal pages, collaging and, of course, visiting and sharing.

I love the snake earrings Tasyn added to his pirate mask!

Tasyn and Shelby took to spray painting like fish to water and made some really awesome stuff.

In fact, their wonderfully layered compositions inspired me to make one of my own. This piece is 18" by 24" and going to Ash and Ben as a wedding gift.

Coming up: more summer weekend adventures and some of the stuff I've been making.

fruits of summer

2011-07-12T07:10:00.000-07:00

One of the many things I love about summer is all the yummy fruit. Mmm, berries and peaches!I had peaches that were on the verge of too ripe (that's what happens when your eyes are too big for your tummy when it comes to buying all that wonderful fruit!), so I made a crisp. There was a container of raspberries that needed to be eaten too, so I threw them in on top.

I like a super-simple crisp, no goopy brown sugar or spices that overwhelm the taste of the fruit. Mix 1/4 cup butter with 1/3 cup each flour, white sugar and oats. Bump it up to 1/3 and 1/2 cups for a bigger crisp. A couple of dabs of butter on the fruit before the topping will help keep the fruit from boiling over the top. Sooooo delicious!

Sunday Mom and I went out to Greenbluff to pick strawberries. I have to confess that I'm not a big fan of the ginormous strawberries from California and Mexico that you get at the grocery store. They're ok, and I always buy some early in the spring when I'm craving some juicy red fruit. But it's always there in my mind that with a little patience I can have these little explosions of sweet juicy sunshiny flavor right off the bush. Heaven. This year it took a little extra patience as all our local fruit is running about 3 weeks behind, thanks to the endless cold rainy weather. Farm Chicks is celebrating Strawberry Week this week. Go check out the yumminess!

Gratuitous cute cat photo!

Painting summer

2011-07-05T07:04:00.000-07:00

First, thank you so much for all the kind, sweet, tender comments both here and on Facebook. It was hard to post my story, but it was also very freeing.

Second, here's a little something I painted this weekend. I started with a nice layer of molding paste to make that yummy texture. I love the color too...feels like summer!

Did I waste it? Not so much I couldn't taste it, Life should be fragrant, Roof top to the basement

2011-06-29T17:35:00.000-07:00

This is the sight that made me cry at AshLee’s wedding. AshLee dancing with her dad to U2’s Kite. I recognized the song and watched her tuck her head into his chest and all of a sudden the tears were streaming gently down my face.

I haven’t shared here about the events that brought about such huge changes to my life 4.5 years ago. It’s not that it’s a big secret, I’ve shared my story with both friends and strangers when the moment seemed right. I guess the moment just hasn’t ever seemed right here. This is a place where I share my art and creativity and the things that bring me joy. And while I’ve found tremendous creativity and joy since the end of my marriage, the fact, and the story of that end are very painful for me.

We met as 18 year old college students. Neither one of us planned to meet the person we would marry at 18, but we agreed that you don’t pass up something special just because it doesn’t happen like you planned. We married at 25, by which time I was overjoyed to officially become AshLee’s stepmom, a role I had already embraced. Although I worked and was involved in various activities, my focus was on building a family and a home with them. It wasn’t perfect, but I felt like we trusted and understood each other. We were best friends. He told me I was his best friend on the day he told me he didn’t want to be married to me anymore. He moved out a week later and proceeded to cut me out of his life as much as possible. I think it was easier for him that way. He did say that his leaving should not affect my relationship with AshLee and I’ve been blessed to retain the close bond she and I have.

Needless to say, I was devastated. My entire world had been yanked out from under me. It didn’t help that I lost a job that I loved 2 months later. But I held my head up and learned that pain can be very clarifying. The stupid things I used to worry about melted away. I relaxed. And I began dreaming about how I wanted to live the rest of my life and I went to work to make those dreams happen.

4.5 years later, I’m at peace with the end of my marriage. I have a happy, fulfilling life that I love. But I was still rather apprehensive about Ash’s wedding. Would I really have a role as part of her family or would I be a fifth wheel bumping along rather uncomfortably? As it turned out, everyone involved welcomed and included me as part of the big crazy family of people who love this amazing girl.

And when she danced with her dad, to a song that holds deep meaning and connection to the two of them, I thought about that connection, and the family life and jokes and traditions and quirks the three of us shared, and I cried tears of joy. Joy that our time together had happened and that I got to be a part of it.

And so now, it finally feels right to tell this story here in this place where I document happy things in my life. Now I’ve found joy in this story, all that much sweeter for having survived the pain.

And yet I'm still a little bit terrified to publish this post. To lay myself open in this way. But, with some encouragement from the lovely Liv Lane, I'm working at being more open and authentic. And honestly? This story is such a huge part of who I am today, such a huge catalyst for the creativity and joy I now fill my life with, that it just doesn't seem right to hold it back any longer.

*The title of this post is a lyric from the song Kite by U2.

She quilts!

2011-06-22T07:10:00.001-07:00

It's true! I am a quilter! Much as I love to paint and make jewelry and journal, and and and, quilting is my first love. I love the colors and textures. And there's something about sitting down to stitch that calms and comforts me like nothing else can.

Blossom 20" by 20"

This is a piece that I hand dyed. I quilted/embroidered it with perle cotton. I'm really loving using embroidery as the quilting, combining two things I love to do. You can see this piece up close and personal at the North Idaho Quilters show this Friday and Saturday at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds in Coeur d' Alene.

True beauty

2011-06-18T11:41:00.000-07:00

This is me today. The real me, as I am. With the ten extra pounds and the wrinkles and the pimples on the same face. With the messy house, the weeds in the yard and that darn double chin. The girl who turned the wrong way this morning on the way to the hairdresser I've been going to since I was 16. And the truth is, none of that matters.

What matters is that today my sweet beautiful AshLee will marry her sweet beautiful Ben. And we will all gather together, her crazy hodgepodge of a family, to share our joy for them as they set out on the life they've chosen to share. We will come as we are, beautiful in our imperfection, transformed by our shared love for these two. And that is the most beautiful thing I can imagine.

some new paintings

2011-06-07T06:57:00.000-07:00

Pistol and I have been spending tons of time out here lately, but I did finally get back to painting and finished up these three little angels.

I think this little blond girl is my favorite. I figured out how to mix this nice blond hair color by accident in Sunny Carvalho's class at ArtFest.

These three are a series I painted as a commission for my friend Lynn.

It felt good to paint again. Need to make more time for that...

Pistol says...

2011-05-19T22:13:00.000-07:00

I like to act like a well-groomed, dignified house cat...

but at heart I'm a goofy little dirt cat!
(I sure hate that wet towel mom throws on me before she lets me back inside!)

i love my book club...

2011-05-19T08:31:00.001-07:00

It's not about the books, although we've read some great ones, including this one. In fact, we don't spend much time talking about the books...we're usually too busy talking about every other topic under the sun.

For us, it's about the friendship and the food! Once a month I get to have a great meal in the company of these kind, interesting, funny, wise women. And every time, as I sit with them around a table, I feel so blessed to be there.

Stamping and Stenciling at Sew Uniquely You

2011-04-25T07:06:00.001-07:00

I had so much fun teaching at Sew Uniquely You on Thursday.

I took a big box of stamps, stencils and paint, along with my lovely assistant Shelby (pictured above). I demoed my favorite techniques and then turned everyone loose to play.

The flowers in the piece above were done with a stencil. Below, the same artist flipped the stencil over and ran the brayer over it to get a negative image. Very cool!

I love how the piece above turned into an Alice-in-Wonderland-y story.

So many wonderful pieces! I'm sorry I don't have names, if you see something here that you made, please leave a comment so I can add your name.

Home from Artfest

2011-04-17T17:08:00.000-07:00

Another amazing Artfest has come and gone. I had a traveling companion for the first time this year. It was soooooo wonderful to have my budding artist friend Maureen with me.

My first class was with Nina Bagley. I had the amazing privilege of sharing my table with the beautiful, brave Tina, who turned out to be a kindred soul. I love how Artfest makes things like that happen.

I made this wrap bracelet, dramatically improving my wire wrapping skills while I was at it.

Friday I had the lovely Misty Mawn. I had a great time hanging out with table-mate Ben, talking sports and admiring the pretty patterns we ended up with on our hands.

I was completely in my element in this class, slapping paint and collage and stencils and hand-carved stamps around. This is one of several pages I worked on.

I spent Saturday with Sunny Carvalho, who is just so wonderfully talented and kind. Above, my table-mate Lynn and I show off our pretty girls.

I usually paint with acrylics, so painting this lovely with Genesis oil paints was quite the learning curve, but so rewarding in the end.

And now it's back home to the regular routine. Happily I've come home inspired and itching to make things.

I'm teaching a quick Surface Design on Fabric workshop this Thursday evening at Sew Uniquely You. $5 to come play with my stamps, stencils and paints. Last I checked there were still spots open if you're in the area and want to join the fun - 509-467-8210.

Weekend wanderings

2011-04-03T17:10:00.001-07:00

I was lucky enough to have both time and energy for a bit of wandering this weekend. Starting in my own front yard where Pistol and I have been wandering quite a bit lately, checking out the new stuff popping up out of the ground. I have crocuses!! I can't tell you how excited I was to see these beautiful spots of color pop up!

I headed out to Coeur d' Alene where I caught the fabulous MaryJo McGraw in action teaching a class on Copic markers at the North Idaho Rubberstamp Show.

Here's Melinda demoing at the Lost Coast Designs table. There were some great vendors and lots of folks snapping up all the great products. I left more than a few of my pesos with Elaine from Carmen's Verandah!

I made a brief stop at a flea market in Post Falls. I found a couple of things but was thrown totally off my game by the sweetest little black baby puppy. I couldn't concentrate after putting him back in the basket with his sister and left emptyhanded.

I still had an hour to kill before a hair appointment. I was way out in the valley (where I almost never go) so I had to make the most of it and go somewhere cool. I got off the freeway and cut over to an extremely uninspiring stretch of highway where I found this little oasis of bliss. This Old House, The Mad Cow and All That Glitter all lined up in a little row of pretty.

Here's a pic from inside the shabby chic heaven that is All That Glitter, possibly the prettiest store in the Spokane area.

I also managed to hit Longhorn BBQ for some zesty pork and garlic rolls on the way back home. Which really just rounded out a nice yummy Saturday.

If you wake up with a sore throat...

2011-03-10T19:54:00.000-08:00

It's all over. I'm sick. Sick sick sick. Sickety sick sick.
I've been reading yummy photography blogs* and they are encouraging me to capture the simple everyday moments of my life. So here you go. My nightstand pretty well sums up all my moments this week. Pills, cough drops, water, kleenex, you get the idea.

*Here's a couple of those pretty photography blogs for you to look at until I'm feeling better:
Darrah Parker
Vivienne McMaster
Liz Lamoreux

More painting

2011-02-23T07:08:00.001-08:00

Here's my week three assignment for Get Your Paint On. Week three was color week, so I played with a different palette than I usually use, one inspired by some of the colors Mati McDonough uses. I'm really loving all this painting. Even when I'm just filling in blocks of color, I get totally absorbed in what I'm doing. Wonderful.

Stuck!

2011-02-17T12:51:00.000-08:00

Help! Feedback please! This is my Get Your Paint On week two assignment. I don't think it's finished but I am stuck, stuck, stuck. What do you think?

Getting my paint on

2011-02-07T20:01:00.000-08:00

I love the work of Mati Rose McDonough and Lisa Congdon so when I found out they were teaching an online class together I signed up immediately.

This is what I painted for week one of Get Your Paint On. The inspiration was the Gees Bend quilts. I chose to focus on color and shape. This felt very different from what I usually do, but I love the whimsical feel and the graphic style. 11" x 14" acrylic on canvas

And now for something completely different...LOL! I actually painted both of these yesterday, moving back and forth during the background stages. I got totally absorbed in these and you know I love it when that happens! I'm also taking Misty Mawn's current online class, trying to figure out her soft dreamy painterly style. This wasn't a class assignment, just me playing around with this style. It's kinda crazy how different these are, but I really like both. I used to worry about how to integrate the different styles that I like or whether I should pick one in order to develop my "voice". I finally figured out that I could just make whatever I want to make and the rest will take care of itself. The important thing is to make stuff. Do the work. Except it should be called "Do the fun!" 11" x 14" acrylic on watercolor paper

Resourcefulness

2011-02-04T17:51:00.000-08:00

Here's a gratuitous cute cat photo since a) I haven't posted one for a while and b) I don't have any pictures to go with the rest of the post. Please enjoy.

So what I really wanted to say is that I had kind of a crazy day at work. I don't write much about work here because, well, this isn't a blog about litigation. (thank goodness!). But when I took a deep breath at 4:55 today and started reflecting on the day I discovered a parallel to my art work. If there was a "theme" for me today it was Resourcefulness.

There was a lot to do and it seemed like every little thing had some little extra glitch. And so a lot of different people came to me with a lot of different glitches and I had the resources to help them. Yes, you can fix that by filing this and here's the form. Yes, I have that person's home # right here. Yes, I can find that piece of information on this website. Yes, let me call this person I know who can fix that. All day long. And here's the thing: It was fun! I love to solve problems and I've reached a point in my career where I have lots of resources at hand for solving problems. And that is such a satisfying feeling. The hard work I've done in the past pays off for me now.

So how the heck does that have anything to do with art? I'm coming to understand that a big reason why I love creativity and art making is because I love to solve problems. How can I put these elements together in an interesting way? How can I express this idea? How can I fix this painting that looks like vomit? And I've reached a point in my art making where I have lots of resources at hand for solving problems. I can balance that big element with these three small elements. I can stencil/stamp/draw these symbols. I can throw a splash of red paint right there to cover that awkward part and make the whole thing pop. The hard work I've done in the past pays off for me now. Awesome! Here's to experience and resourcefulness!

You never know what you're going to get

2011-02-01T07:14:00.000-08:00

This wasn't at all what I intended when I started this painting. But my original plan wasn't working, so I started playing around with random collage bits that were handy. And came up with this. I've learned to just go with it when the paintings boss me around. They're always right.

I've been practicing faces. I signed up for the Faces class over here. Faces are a fun challenge. I'm always surprised by the expression they end up with.

Here's another little angel, one of three I'm painting for a commission (!). I've set up a painting station in the dining room since the basement studio is pretty cold right now. I've been painting in batches, starting several different sizes and surfaces at once, then having fun seeing where each one goes. You never know what you're going to get!

Guest Post!

2010-12-22T07:40:00.001-08:00

I'm so excited to be the guest poster over at Dirty Footprints Studio today! Go check it out here!

Cardinal

2010-12-11T09:08:00.000-08:00

Here's a less-than-ideal photo of my latest painting. I forgot to scan it before I whisked it off to the handcrafted arts fair at work this week. I donated this and the little angel painting below to the silent auction. I've never really put my work out there for sale before, so it was exciting to see people bid on my paintings. And also a little weird to see them happily scoop up their winnings and take them home. I'm so used to having my work here in my home for me to enjoy. The person who bought this painting is sending it to his elderly mother in Denver who loves cardinals. Which makes me incredibly happy and a little bit in awe that someone so far away will have my work in her home to enjoy.

Snowed in

2010-12-04T12:41:00.000-08:00

These pictures are actually from last week. The snow was prettier then. Also, I am too lazy to go outside to take new pictures.

The sun is shining today, but it's really cold. And my street is an icy rutted mess. I only got in and out of my driveway yesterday because I have really really really nice neighbors who came over and pushed me when I got stuck. People who "love" snow must not have to drive to work in it for months at a time, that's all I can figure.

As for me and my cat, we shall stay inside and watch sports all day. And then maybe do some more painting. Because it was sooooo much fun getting back in my mixed media groove and painting this little angel last weekend!

The Library

2010-11-29T06:57:00.001-08:00

I. Love. This. Room.

This is the third and smallest upstairs bedroom. Mom came up with the genius idea to turn it into a library. She was so excited by the idea that she came over and painted the walls a yummy dark green. And then it was fall and I was too busy to do anything more. But now I've painted the ceiling white (it was peach, of course) and polished the floor and moved some stuff in. And suddenly I have this warm cozy space where I could just sit all day, with or without a book. It's just dreamy.

Go read this.

2010-11-04T17:36:00.000-07:00

My excellent cousin Nathan has started a blog, Nathan Explains Science. You should go read it. Really.

See, Nathan is a scientist and he's a really great writer. He makes things you've never heard of interesting and understandable and cool. AND he's also a political scientist (in addition to being a former astrophysicist) so he writes a lot of very cool stuff about why people act (and vote!) the way they do.

Have I ever told you how creative scientists are? Nathan and his brother Marcus (a physicist) are two of my favorite people to talk to. And it never ceases to amaze me how many parallels there are between the way they approach their work and the way I approach making art. At some level it's really all about exploration and curiosity.

So go check it out!

P.S. Pistol wanted to say: relvv xzaa
He just typed that.

How To Be Alone

2010-10-14T17:35:00.000-07:00

I love this video. Tanya speaks the truth.

The Perfect Protest

2010-10-01T18:11:00.000-07:00

Brene Brown is hosting The Perfect Protest this week in honor of her new book: The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are.

Doesn't the title just say it all?

Really, it's such a relief to just relax into yourself. I've spent years planning how great things will be when I finally get it all together. Problem is, I'd always rather have fun than do all the yucky work that I think I need to do to get it all together. Endless yucky work that can never all be done. So I'm finally learning that if I let go of the idea that I am something less until that mythical day when I get it all together, I can have the fun without the icky anxiety that I should be working harder to get it all together. I am enough. I really don't care if I have messy hair and a messy house. I am enough. Such a powerful message.

I am enough.
And so are you.

And on a very thrilling side note, I have a dishwasher!!
An adorable little miniature dishwasher!
I think I actually jumped up and down when I got home today and walked into my kitchen and saw this. It was the only thing on my "must have" list that my house didn't already have. And now it's here and I'm so happy! Now if only I hadn't washed all the dishes by hand last night to make room for the handyman to work - I don't have any dirty dishes to put in it!

Blessings

2010-09-29T07:40:00.000-07:00

I'm counting my blessings today. Here's a few:

Warm, soft cozy bed with a pretty reminder from a dear friend.

Window I can look out of into a big tree while lying in the bed.

Lovely sturdy house with pink and aqua walls that is ALL mine. The whole thing!

Sweet funny cat friend who wakes me up at 5 am because he wants to cuddle.

Family who are fun to hang out with.

Warm, smart, funny, supportive friends.

Garbage service.

Lawn service.

$$ to buy art supplies.

Sunshine!

What blessings are you counting today?

Ohmigosh!

2010-08-06T07:09:00.000-07:00

I'm tired. I have an ear infection. I'm living on iced white mochas and delivery pizza. And my heart is full to bursting with happiness and excitement over my new home.
No, I'm not moved in, I'm not even done painting. But I'm starting to get glimpses of what it will be. It's even better than I imagined. Pistol and I will sleep there tonight and tomorrow we'll just hang out and rest and get used to the new place. Lovely!

Art Journal LOVE

2010-07-31T05:22:00.000-07:00

I'm indulging in some delicious art journal LOVE with the excellent Connie over at Dirty Footprints Studio.
Check out her 30 Journals 30 Days project!
Here's my contribution for the 31st day:

How long have you been Art Journaling?

I started art journaling after my first trip to ArtFest 2.5 years ago. It seemed like EVERYONE had journals at ArtFest and they were all so AMAZING! I wanted to get in on the fun.

How has Art Journaling impacted, changed, or enhanced your life?

Art journaling has really freed me up creatively. I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist and a lot of a procrastinator. With art journaling, all the things that were holding me back just don't exist. My journal is a place where I'm just goofing off so it doesn't matter if I mess up or hate a page. That freedom to experiment and play is contagious and spills over into my other artwork.

My art journal is also my ambassador in my regular, everyday world. I carry it everywhere and show it to anyone who's interested. It explains the art that I make and my creative nature much better than words ever could.

What are a few of your favorite Art Journaling materials?

Cheap acrylic paints, my brayer, mod podge, chisel and brush tip pens, sharpie poster paint pens

Who are some of your favorite Art Journalers?

Pam Garrison, Judy Wise, Teesha Moore

What kind words of encouragement would you say to an Art Journal newbie?

You can do whatever you want in your journal! And there are no mistakes!

Where can we contact you...give us some link LOVE!!

www.artquiltplay.blogspot.com

Short Bio.

I am a mixed media artist in LOVE with color, texture, words, sunshine, flowers, books, fabric, embroidery, embellishment, raspberries, my cat Pistol, art journaling, creating, cool grass between my toes, tank tops, pizza and tons of other things.

Paint Party!

2010-07-20T06:16:00.001-07:00

Saturday was a beautiful day for painting. Painting my house, that is. No more peach! I was up early taping all that lovely white trim that I wanted to keep.

This hallway has 8 freakin' doors!!

Girlfriends absolutely ROCK! Bridget, Kathy and Maureen worked so hard and had so much fun!

The peach was quite determined and required a coat of primer before we got to the lovely blue.

The color is weathered glass and it's everything I wanted. Lots more to do, but thanks to my amazing friends, the bulk of the painting is done!
I need to finish painting, do some heavy cleaning on the floors, get a dishwasher installed and install the new sink/vanity in the bathroom. In the meantime, carloads of stuff are going over every day. I'm hoping to actually start living there the first week of August!

I've got skillz

2010-07-14T06:55:00.000-07:00

I spent a wonderful weekend in Tacoma at the Puget Sound Bead Festival with my mom and Aunt Susie. In addition to a ton of fabulous shopping, I took two classes and greatly expanded my jewelry making skills. I learned to solder with Stephen James and I learned mad metalworking skills from Linda Larsen. Hammering and torching and sawing, oh my! The pic above is the wearable journal pendant I made in Linda's class. Both classes were SOOOOO much fun. Now I have to buy a torch!

creating a home

2010-07-09T05:49:00.000-07:00

Yikes, apologies in advance for the crummy pictures - the iphone camera doesn't like bad lighting!

Yes, I'm moving and I'm still putting things on the walls in the current place. I have an intense need to "see what it will look like". LOL! I bought some chipboard letters that are about a foot high and covered them with a patchwork of pretty scrapbook papers. Then I randomly brayered them with gesso to shabby them up a bit.

I finally got the keys to the new house yesterday, so I took the cat and a load of stuff over last night. Pistol was kinda freaked out, but he liked the back yard. I made this little altar of blessings on the mantle to start things off on the right note.

And I taped an impromptu welcome up in the hall.

And yeah, I totally tagged my house! This is in a corner of my studio space, the beginning of what will become my graffiti wall. It's my house, I can write on the walls if I want to!

painting again

2010-07-05T12:02:00.000-07:00

What a relief to be painting again!
I tricked myself into overcoming my inertia by joining the Mixed Media Monday challenge. Once I decided to join the challenge, I put "paint something for the challenge" on my new TODO app on my iphone with a due date of today. I love my TODO app! Somehow actually writing things down makes a big difference in my accountability level for getting them done. One of the many amazing things I learned from Kelly Rae's Flying Lessons ecourse!

So the theme for MMM this week is "something borrowed". And my mortgage paperwork was completed on the new house this week. I'm "borrowing" money from the bank to buy the house, so I decided to paint something about the house. This piece is 9.5" by 13", painted on a found canvas, the inside of an old book cover that was on it's way to the garbage.

The other half of the doodle...

2010-06-29T06:53:00.000-07:00

Here's the other half of that doodle:

The theme of this journal is Big Girl's Coloring Book and we were encouraged to play with our favorite color. Here's my full spread:

I like this a lot but sorta wish I'd kept the colors in the green/blue range. Next time.

Still stuck in creative inertia for the most part. My momentum is getting used up on house stuff (closing by July 8!) and on just enjoying the glorious loveliness of summer.

This I know

2010-06-23T21:06:00.000-07:00

The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more you have in life to celebrate.
--Oprah

Ash and I at Arbor Crest last Friday.

Tomorrow I'll be 40. I can't wait.

I've learned by now that there's A LOT that I don't know, but I have figured out a couple of things. I've been through some fire and I know my own strength (and my weakness). I know that life goes on and is filled with incredible sweetness. I know who I am and what I want and I'm getting better at saying no to what I don't want. I know that being kind, being thankful and being forgiving, to myself as well as to others, will take me to places and moments that are really worth seeing. And I know the true peace that comes from letting go of anxiety, jealousy, resentment, grudges and all that other negative junk. And knowing these things gives me so much confidence and optimism going forward.

I'm so blessed. I'm ready to celebrate.

inertia and momentum

2010-06-21T17:53:00.001-07:00

half a doodle I'm working on for a circle journal page

Trying to find some balance between inertia and momentum this week. There's a lot to do and once I'm in the swing of doing, momentum carries me along. But when I stop, it's full stop and inertia makes it hard to get going again, both creatively and in other aspects of my life. I'm conscious of the need to pace myself, to enjoy the journey, to keep myself rested and refreshed along the way. I just wish the transition between action and stoppage was easier.

Here's a little something...

2010-06-18T07:28:00.000-07:00

Here's a little something I've been working on. It's been a crazy week and things are pretty messy around here. I'm really looking forward to the (hopefully!) slower pace of the weekend and having some time to do some making.

Eureka!

2010-06-13T08:06:00.001-07:00

Meaning "I have found it!" I've found my home, ready and waiting to be turned into the funky little cottage I've been dreaming of. It's got everything I wanted, all the quirky little things like a studio space with painted concrete floor so I can be as messy as I want and a private backyard so I can drink margaritas in my pjs.

I thought about this for a long time, wavering really. Did I really want to take on the maintenance of a house and yard? Would I qualify for a mortgage in today's tighter market? Could I afford something that I would be happy with?

Then, one day a few months ago, it suddenly all felt right. It was time. I applied for pre-approval of a mortgage the same day.

I've been looking at houses for a couple of weeks, but nothing was quite right. This house popped up on the market Thursday and my excellent realtor Celia took me to see it Friday at lunch. We made an offer that night and it was accepted yesterday. I still have to get through inspection and all the other closing details, but I am feeling remarkably calm about the whole thing. Everything has just fallen into place so far.

There's a little bit of work to be done. The fresh peach paint is ok, but not what I want and the whole point of having a house is to have it the way I want it, right?

Farm Chicks!

2010-06-11T06:19:00.001-07:00

I went to the Farm Chicks show with my friend Korri on Sunday. Ohmigosh, it was beyond yummy! 3 big halls at the fairgrounds filled to the brim with wonderful vintagey, crafty, arty beautiful stuff! And that was on Sunday after it had been picked over by 4300 people on Saturday.

Honestly, Farm Chicks can be a teensy bit overwhelming if you try to look at the big picture. You have to just dive in and enjoy the gorgeous little details that call to you. I LOVE the blackboard in the ornate picture frame!

And that green picnic basket!

The thing that really sets Farm Chicks apart is the amazing creativity of the vendors. Each booth is a delicious little world, inviting you in to view its delights.

Korri and I found a few treasures and a TON of inspiration. We are wanting to start our own little creative business. The vendors we talked with were so encouraging, we are really feeling the possibilities.

Excellent Seattle Weekend!

2010-06-09T06:41:00.001-07:00

When I was a little kid, my dad used to take me to Mariners baseball games at the Kingdome. That's the story I told my dad as we walked in to Safeco Field Friday night, our first Mariner's game together in a long time. The Mariners lost, but we had fun anyway, remembering those old games and talking about how we don 't know very many of the current players.

Saturday we went to a sports memorabilia show, another thing we used to do back in the day. There were lots of cool things to see and yummy grilled burgers to eat for lunch. Dad found quite a few things to add to his collection and I found a couple of things as well. Yep, I collect sports memorabilia. Artist and sports freak: a rare combination.

In the afternoon I wandered up to Bothell for the Eastside Miniatures Show. My Artfest buddy Lisa was there lecturing and selling copies of Mixed Media Dollhouses. Lisa is a major contributor to the book, written by my Artfest buddy Tally

and Julie Molina.

After the shows, we headed to Golden Oldies, an awesome record (yes, vinyl!) shop. The neighborhood featured some cool graffiti. Love the doodly patterns on this one.

Here's Dad engaged in one of his favorite pastimes: searching for cool records. He found some good stuff and I did too.

An excellent trip. The next day we hurried home so I could round out the weekend with a trip to the Farm Chicks show. Pics from that up next!

doodling around

2010-05-26T06:19:00.001-07:00

I loved my Artfest doodling class with Traci Bautista so much that I decided to take her online Creative Doodling class. Tons of inspiration and fun!

Doodling around is pretty much the only creative activity going on around here these days. This has been a horrible allergy season and I'm spending a lot of my free time with my head on a pillow next to the humidifier...

I heart Hipstamatic!

2010-05-21T06:44:00.000-07:00

I really, really love my iphone, but I have to say I'm not a big fan of the camera feature. I only use it if it's the only camera I have handy. That may change. I downloaded the Hipstamatic app the other day and ohmigosh it is sooooo fun! Here's a couple of quick shots from this morning. Yummy!

2010-04-18T20:08:00.000-07:00

Here's another 8.5 by 11" painting that I finished today. Yes, there's a theme going on. There will be more. I tried out the Krylon Webbing Spray on this one. Love!

Also love this girl. Is she cute or what?

It's the paint silly!

2010-04-11T19:40:00.000-07:00

I painted this little 8.5 x 11 piece this weekend. Just moving around the gesso and the molding paste and the colors I don't normally use. Micaceous iron oxide. Payne's grey, anthraquinone blue. Painting for the sake of painting, not as a means to some other end, not simply to add color to some other project. Exploring my beloved color and texture. Soaking in the joy of pushing paint around with my fingers.

It seems I am a painter. Artfest has been trying to tell me this for a couple of years now. Not that I have some kind of talent or skill for painting, but that I have a passion for it. It is always in the painting classes, the classes where I am plunked down and expected to paint for several hours, it's in those classes that I lose myself. I get so absorbed in what I'm doing that I lose track, even of the passing of time. I'm completely in the zone. It's a glorious and joyful place. A place where I work spontaneously and confidently, just laying down color and texture and then responding to it with more color and texture. Expressing myself.

My heart is firmly and happily placed in the mixed media world and this little painting is no exception, incorporating rubber stamps and graphite pencil. There are more bits and pieces in the studio waiting for more layers, some of which will undoubtedly include collage and stencils and even stitching, but I am ready to focus on the paint and see where it takes me.

lots of making over here

2010-04-01T07:00:00.001-07:00

Dirty Martini, 24" by 29"
Here's a quilt I whipped up with some fabric I hand-dyed and surface designed with stamps and Shiva Paintsticks. If you're in the area, you can see this quilt April 10-11 at the Imagination Unleashed 2010 show at the Jacklin Arts and Cultural Center, 405 William Street, Post Falls, ID. There's always interesting contemporary work at this show.

ArtFest!! Just got home from ArtFest and it was AMAZING as usual. Below is one of the pieces I made in Creative Doodling with Traci Bautista. I LOVED this class! I'm not a natural doodler, but I really fell into the zone with this - that completely awesome place where everything else falls away and I am totally focused on what I'm doing. Love, love, love!

This is the piece I made in Lynne Perrella's Going for Baroque class. This piece is actually pretty big - 18" by 35". This class was really fun too, although I worked like a demon to cover that huge canvas with layers and layers of pattern and texture in a short 6 hours.

Just hangin' out

2010-02-28T18:59:00.000-08:00

I used to loathe this time of year. Cold and dark and dreary. But then I figured out it was the perfect time to hang out, be lazy, read books, make stuff. Between that resolve and the strangely warm, sunny winter we're having (and a trip to SF and nonstop watching of the Olympics), well, time flies when you're having fun.

I got a new camera. I loved my old Cybershot, but wow, my new Cybershot takes crisp photos effortlessly. Plus, it's tiny.

I'm not doing this on purpose...

2010-01-07T19:40:00.001-08:00

bag full o' pretty

2010-01-03T09:20:00.000-08:00

Here's what I came home from Joann Fabric with yesterday. Well, not the cat, he just has to help with everything these days. I'm really feeling drawn to soft pretty colors lately: creams and whites and champagne, pinks and blues, and my current favorite, the Pantone color of the year, turquoise. I'm loving the work of Natalya Aikens and Ruth Rae and the yummy hand stitchiness of Jude Hill. Also definitely feeling the influence of my Artfest sister Jill. That girl makes everything pretty.

So yeah, we're enjoying a long, lazy New Year's weekend, thinking about how we want to live this next year. Pistol wants to make sure there are lots of naps.

We've been making soft pretty little collages. Pulling together little bits that speak to me and resolving them into something finished. Here's to more of that in 2010!

artfest circle journal

2009-11-13T06:59:00.000-08:00

I joined a circle journal project with a bunch of amazing art sisters from Artfest.
This is my little garden journal that I sent out into the world. I chose a garden theme because, well, I love gardens. This is the first book I've ever made. I really didn't know what I was doing, but I love how it turned out. I made the covers from chipboard, tore up some watercolor paper for the pages and bound it all together with ribbon. Yes, of course I blanket-stitched around the edges of the covers.

This is my sign-in page. The tags are shaped like garden stakes.

And these are the pages I did in lovely Michelle's beautiful birds/nature's findings book.

Sheesh...

2009-10-31T09:22:00.000-07:00

Life has been a whirlwind. My mom and my hair stylist had to collaborate yesterday to remind me that I had an appointment. In the midst of all the busyness I've fallen in love with art journaling. I carry my journal with me everywhere. And now I've signed up for the Sketchbook Project so I carry two journals with me everywhere. Plus a ziplock bag full of my favorite pens.

Today I'm enjoying a rare fall day where I don't have to leave my house. Today I am reveling in a rare fall day when I don't have to leave my house.

I've been busy over here...

2009-07-18T18:21:00.000-07:00

soaking up every last drop of summer...

Bliss is...

2009-05-26T06:58:00.000-07:00

A weekend at the beach

A sunny, dreamy, living-in-the-moment, soaking-it-all-up weekend at the beach.

I met this dog. As you can see, we are in love. His human is pretty amazing too. I'm obviously going to have to return soon.

loving my letters

2009-05-09T08:58:00.000-07:00

My first workshop at Artfest was with the amazing and lovely Lisa Englebrecht. That's one of her samples above. I love Lisa's work and I was thrilled to see her name on the schedule for Artfest this year. I've always loved words (before I learned to read, I used to write lists of the dozen or so words I knew on my Holly Hobby chalkboard) and I've always been interested in fancy lettering. I've also always had completely atrocious handwriting. I have Lisa's excellent book but I was really in need of some hands-on instruction.

Here I am with the amazing and lovely Lisa. She's an excellent and very generous teacher. The class was Tats, Graff and Freestyle, so in addition to learning Old English and Script styles, we played with some funky styles, thought about what word we loved enough to tatoo on our bodies (major commitment!) and came up with our street names.

My street name is nb3 (for nicolabeverage). I "tagged" on the beach with a piece of driftwood. AFA is my crew: ArtFest Anarchy (All Fabulous Artists, etc). Super fun!

The Pilot Parallel Pen is my new favorite toy. Seriously, these pens are a revelation. They make it SO easy to make letters that look SO cool. Here's some of my experimenting in class.

And here's some freestyle experimenting. Dance was written with glue pen and then foiled.

I've been playing with lettering a lot since I got home, working on developing a personal lettering style. Here's some parallel pen play from the other day.

No lettering here, just a recent journal page inspired by my art sister Cheryl.

Took a hike

2009-05-03T17:50:00.000-07:00

Saturday I went on a hike along the Spokane River. I live on a bend in the river, so I just headed out my front door, down to the Centennial Trail and then branched off onto this hiking trail. It was awesome! It felt so good to get out and tramp around in the woods, just listening to the river and the birds.

There's my destination: Bowl and Pitcher, a popular campground at Riverside State Park. The views of the rushing river and massive basalt formations from the rebuilt walking bridge (originally built by the CCC) were well worth the trip.

As were the wildflowers blooming all along the path.

Speaking of birds, here's one of the local osprey trying to lead me away from it's nest.

This tree is only a block away from home, but it smells like heaven right now. Seriously, I could just stand there and smell this tree all day.

Random stuff

2009-04-26T07:47:00.001-07:00

It's come to my attention that it's been quite a while since I posted a photo of the small furry one. Here's his cuteness trying to act like he doesn't care if we go outside or not. He's totally faking for the camera.

I went for a walk yesterday to check on my favorite magnolia tree. Like most of the rest of the plant life around here, it's just starting to bud out. In a week or two we should have that annual explosion of green that I love so much.

I love Idaho.

Yeah, it's seriously a drive thru beverage barn. And they sell beer. Brilliant.

Here's my painting from the first day of Susan Shie's class. The theme for the day was self portrait. I wanted the theme to be spring or garden, but I think I adapted nicely. Yeah, I know Pistol is the wrong color, but I was afraid that if I painted him black he would just look like a strange little blob.

Dear Artfest,

2009-04-23T06:19:00.000-07:00

Thank you for another year of your wonderful, magical self. Your boundless creative energy and open, freeing, encouraging environment are such a blessing.

Of course, your setting at Fort Warden is just lovely. From the first time I went to a workshop at the fort at the age of 10, it's always a special treat to go there.

The dorms are spartan, but we bring everything we need: snacks, libations, art supplies and treasures, and most important, ourselves, our kindred spirits, our stories, our laughter and our tears. Such a privilege to listen and share with such beautiful women.

Wow, looking very serious here!

Sooooo much fun.

Such great friends!

Thanks Artfest. You're the best!

Hair of the dog that bit me?

2009-04-14T06:40:00.000-07:00

So last week I was suffering from a horrible Artfest hangover - exhausted, creatively brain dead, missing my art sisters. But I had signed up months ago for a 2-day workshop with Ohio artist Susan Shie. I've been a big fan of Susan's wonderful diary quilts for a long time and the opportunity to take a close-to-home class with her was NOT to be missed. So I threw some markers and sketchbooks in an Artfest bag and drove off to Post Falls. Ohmigosh! It turns out another 2 days of art class with an awesome, inspiring teacher and a fun group of artist friends was the perfect cure for my Artfest hangover.

Here's Susan demonstrating her technique for layering and binding a quilt. You can see some of her quilts in the background. You gotta love a teacher who starts the class by telling us the goal is to get back to the artists we were when we were 6.

Two days of total freedom and encouragement and support to draw and paint and journal all over our paintings. I LOVED this and will definitely do more with these techniques. Here's my painting from Friday, our theme was cooking so I just drew all my favorite things from my kitchen. I'm leaning toward not journaling on this one just because I'm so in love with the simple graphic quality it has right now.

I did journal on Thursday's self portrait piece, but I don't have a good pic of that one yet. If you have a chance to take a class with Susan DO IT!

This is what it's all about...

2009-04-05T20:16:00.000-07:00

Celebrating life with my beautiful art sisters.

More stuff

2009-03-02T06:49:00.001-08:00

Friday at the end of the work day, Liz told me to make something pretty this weekend. Yes ma'am.

OK, technically it's not finished, but I like where it's at and I'm going to glue everything down tonight. Shocking, I know, but I actually worked from idea to (mostly) finished piece in a weekend. And I started with a scary blank canvas!

I also made some more ATC's for Artfest trading.

Here's some stuff I made

2009-02-23T06:49:00.001-08:00

Here's some stuff that I made over the last few months. Despite a fairly fallow, lazy season, there's always something I'm puttering around with. The past week or two I've been fighting the inertia of winter and self-doubt and making an effort to get my butt in the studio.

I'm fascinated with Mary lately. Here's a little nativity doll I made.

The latest dress. Still playing around with lots of ideas for these.

Several months ago I bought a bunch of blank canvases with the idea of playing around with paint and collage. It turns out canvas and paint are very intimidating. This piece has been sitting around in various stages for months. It was feeling blah so yesterday I added some outlining. The stem and leaves are fabric, the petals are my collaged, painted paper and the center is a bottle cap.

Hearts

2009-02-15T07:49:00.000-08:00

Funny how life changes your perspective. A little more than a year ago hearts made me gag. But then my dad had his heart fixed and then someone came along and took on the job of fixing my heart. And now hearts are showing up everywhere.

A handmade valentine for my valentine.

ATC's for trading at Artfest. I can't wait!

Blistered pearls I got from Mom yesterday. The picture doesn't begin to do them justice, but I'm too lazy to go try again. I'm completely fascinated with these.

Moving forward

2009-01-12T05:59:00.000-08:00

I took ACTION this weekend and finally did some things I've spent a lot of time thinking about the past few months. Like baking. Nothing special, just a blueberry coffee cake, a favorite recipe from Fannie Farmer's Baking Book, but a nice way to slip back into actually baking instead of thinking "hmm, I should bake something..."

Also got into the studio (now that I actually have a workspace and can find things). Again, nothing special, just get in there and slap some paint around. It's amazing how easily I get caught up in it, how ideas start to flow once I get in there and get moving. It's just a matter of overcoming the inertia.

I also took action to buy this fabric for the duvet cover from Home Sewn by Kaari Meng. OK, I know it sounds crazy that I had to TAKE ACTION to buy fabric, but while I'm excellent at buying random stuff, when it comes to a project like this I tend to...agonize..."is this the exact perfect choice that will make me happy every day? Oh dear, I'd better think about it some more..."

This is SO pretty. Action is such a good word!

A New Year

2009-01-04T07:06:00.000-08:00

You know it just wouldn't be the same if I actually posted about things when they happen! LOL!

Anyway, as always this time of year, I've been reflecting on the year past and the year to come. Last year my resolution was to make a lot of art. What I underestimated last year, was how much of my time and energy would be required to finish unfinished business, to tie up loose ends, to get myself fully outfitted and squarely on the path of the life of my choosing. It turns out that when you have to get divorced, sell your house, get a new job, have surgery and meet someone new...well, that stuff takes a lot of energy. And that's ok. I feel good about 2008. I accomplished a lot, I had a lot of fun and a lot of wonderful time with family and friends, and I'm in a good place now.

So here's the thing, while I ran short on time and energy for doing, I did do a lot of thinking about the kinds of things I WANT to spend my time doing. And now I'm teetering on the edge of the pit of just sitting around thinking about what I want to do all the time. Sitting is SO comfortable!

So rather than make a resolution, this year I'm going to do the thing where you pick a word for the year. Christine Kane has a good guide for this and that's where I found my word: Action. I'm still getting comfortable with this word. It's not a word that's among my favorites (create, imagine, laugh, joy, kindness, etc.), but that's ok. The fact that I'm not completely comfortable with it means that it's the challenge I need. Just that little daily reminder to stop sitting and thinking and get up and start doing. Whew. Scary.

Since it is the 4th already, I'm happy to report that so far this year I've taken action to clean up and organize my studio. I never really finished unpacking that room. I just got it to a semi-functional point and went with it. 16 months later, semi-functional has deteriorated to not-functional-at-all. Lately I can't even find anything. So I've added some storage, rearranged to make better use of space and assigned permanent homes for things like fake flowers, alphabet stamps, bottle caps. Plus, I've created actual work space! LOL!

Happy New Year everyone!

Again with the snow

2009-01-03T06:19:00.000-08:00

Or rather, again and again and again. As of yesterday morning we've had 69 inches, 61.5 in the month of December alone. I'm ready for summer now. Today. Please.

Scene from a Happy Christmas

2008-12-27T09:37:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had as happy a Christmas as Emily did!

Snowed in

2008-12-21T09:05:00.000-08:00

So, um, it finally snowed...

19.4 inches in 24 hours, 24 inches total over 36 hours. My trusty Saturn handles really well in the snow, but Thursday I couldn't get out of my driveway. No worries, as my office, along with the rest of the city was closed. The MALLS were closed! The state patrol told everyone to stay home unless they had a major emergency.

Friday was a snow day as well...everyone was still stuck. Pistol and I went for a very short walk to check out the snow.

Mostly we hung out on the couch, crocheting and cuddling.

Family portrait

2008-11-23T07:58:00.001-08:00

Man, I HATE losing to the Cougs. But we did have a LOT of fun!

AshLee covered her bases - that's Vandal gear underneath her Husky gear.

The vital importance of goofing off

2008-11-14T07:34:00.000-08:00

Too much of my creative time has been in bits and pieces crammed in here and there. That works fine for stitching or paint layering or embellishing things I've already mostly figured out. It does NOT work for designing, developing, testing ideas. Those lovely, wonderful tasks require larger chunks of time, time to get lost in playing around, goofing off. I finally took an evening to do that this week and this is the excellent mess I made. I didn't "accomplish" anything and that was perfectly fine. The point wasn't to accomplish, but to let my mind rest and refresh and slip back into a creative groove. To get things percolating. I goofed off until I was tired, then went to bed. I woke up feeling refreshed and bubbling over with ideas and design solutions. Love that feeling!

I have been making some stuff

2008-11-10T06:31:00.000-08:00

I finished up some new dresses last week. These three are currently for sale at the Lady Bug Gallery at Sew Uniquely You.

Preparing for the colorless and cold

2008-11-02T09:19:00.000-08:00

Ha! Who am I kidding? I'm not preparing for anything. Life is a blur of work and bad football. Quiet moments with the camera and the cat are rare.

I'm not ready for the colorless and the cold. I'm still busy lamenting the fact that I lost the best of the color and the heat, stuck in bed recovering from my surgery. On the other hand, I got a cold last week that didn't turn into a sinus infection...the surgery was so worth it. Life is such a balance. The colorless and the cold make the color and the heat that much sweeter.

Pistol thinks these concrete edgers are a cat sidewalk. He walks everywhere on them.

What I've been up to...

2008-09-16T06:27:00.000-07:00

Sheesh, bad blogger! It's been a very busy month since I last posted. Here's some of what I've been doing the last six weeks:

Went to Seattle 3 times. (Pic is Lake Union from the rooftop terrace at Eastlake Grill)

Returned to Husky Stadium with my dad, a day I've been anticipating since he had double bypass surgery in January.

Finished up my contribution to 2 different swaps. This is a crummy picture of my page in a post-ArtFest fatbook. Colors are more vibrant in RL.

Reconnected with an old friend. OK, this is where I've spent most of my time. ;-)

Hung out with AshLee.
Dyed fabric twice.
Went to the lake.
Soaked up as much sun as possible.

Time really flies when you're having this much fun...

Big (shopping) weekend!

2008-08-13T06:31:00.000-07:00

Here's a hint of where mom and I went this weekend:

Shipwreck Beads! They don't have a big sign, so the beaded sidewalk tells you you're in the right place. Here we are inside the store:

We look so happy! The store is bigger than it looks in this picture. It's bigger than I remembered. It's just really really big. And mom wants to say that they make really awesome BLT's.

Here we are at our second destination, Pacific Northwest Quiltfest

I was really pleased with the quality of the show this year. I only noticed a couple of traditional quilts that were made from well-known patterns and, of course, the workmanship on those ones was excellent. There was great variety in the art, pictorial and innovative quilts and more sophisticated use of all the cool techniques and embellishments than I've seen in the past. It seemed like design drove the use of techniques and embellishments more this year, rather than techniques and embellishments driving design.

The exhibit from South African quilters was definitely my favorite part of the show. This quilt, Blood and Fire by Jeanette Gilks really mesmerized me. I felt like it was worth the whole trip just to see this quilt in person.

Here's a closeup. Of course, pictures don't do justice to the incredible layers and details and symbolism of this quilt.

Oh yeah, and there were vendors. Do I really need to say more? ;-)

Here's last weekend's fun...

2008-08-08T06:44:00.001-07:00

Now that I'm getting ready for this weekend's fun, I'm finally taking a minute to post a couple of pics of last weekend's fun. Two beautiful sunny colorful days of dying fabric with the Sew Uniquely You crew:

Here I am with my table buddies Pam and Becca. I think my favorite part was when they moved the table into the shade while I was busy doing something else. I turned around and my table had disappeared! LOL!

It was a great weekend: tons of fun and tons of beautiful new fabric to play with! (I'll post some fabric pics next week)

SHOCK-ing

2008-07-28T18:13:00.000-07:00

Aren't my parents cute? Saturday night we went to the Spokane Shock (local arena football team) game. It was super-fun in a get-loud-and-silly kind of way.

In other news, my nose is healing really well, but I'm getting really tired of being really tired all the dang time. Apparently the whole anesthetic thing can really mess you up. :-P

Still fuzzy in the middle

2008-07-12T08:51:00.000-07:00

1. Not available, 2. Not available, 3. Not available, 4. Not available, 5. Not available, 6. Not available, 7. Not available, 8. Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie9. Not available 10. Not available 11. Not available 12. Not available

Here's a fun meme I've seen on a couple of blogs, most recently Leah's. I barely ever use flickr, so this was a fun exercise for me, but I don't know why all the photo credits show up as not available.

* Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr search.
* Using only the first page, choose an image.
* Copy and paste each of the URL’s into the mosaic maker over at FD's image maker.

The questions:
What is your first name?
What is your favorite food?
What high school did you attend?
What is your favorite color?
Who is your celebrity crush?
Favorite drink?
Dream vacation?
Favorite dessert?
What do you want to be when you grow up?
What do you love most in life?
One word to describe you.
Your Flickr name

So I had my surgery back on 7/2 and life has mostly been a blur since then. They actually removed a bone spur from inside my nose, so I had a tremendous amount of pain at first. After several days of nothing but eat, take pain meds, sleep, I had the splints removed and immediately got violently ill from the antibiotics I was taking. I'm finally feeling better, although still a bit shaky and rather fuzzy in the middle where my nose is supposed to be. Where my nose is actually, it's just that it doesn't feel nose-ish, it feels fuzzy. But the good news is no pain meds at all for the past several days. No pressure causing the vague headache between the eyes. Fingers crossed that this might just work!

It's a structural problem

2008-06-17T06:34:00.000-07:00

So I've got a deviated septum and enlarged turbinates. English translation: I finally know why I have a sinus headache pretty much all of the time. And all of the allergy meds and antibiotics, etc. never do much good because there just isn't much space for air to go up my nose. I'm having surgery in a couple of weeks.

There's been a bit of craftiness going on here, but mostly I've been working and feeling crummy due to my structurally unsound nose. :-/

Boise for the weekend

2008-05-22T05:46:00.000-07:00

Mom and I went to Boise for the weekend to watch AshLee compete in the Western Athletic Conference Track and Field Championships. The lovely AshLee, pictured here in blue, ran a personal best in the 400 and helped earn points for her team in the 4x100 and 4x400 relays. The fine young women from Idaho took 2nd place overall!

When we weren't at the track meet, we managed to stay busy shopping. And then we went shopping. We finished things off with more shopping. My excellent friend Sarah introduced us to the wonders of anthropologie, Urban Outfitters and Sephora, all of which are sadly lacking in Spokane. Upon further reflection, I think it's best that there is no anthropologie in this area. If there were I might pack up my little cat and move in there (yes, I know they have a website, but it's not the same). Oh yeah, and then there was the shoe section at Dillards. Oh my goodness.

So now, having fully indulged in a weekend of fun out in the world, I'm ready for a nice quiet weekend at home with my little cat. Kelly Rae Roberts posted on her blog the other day about how she's always been on the cusp of being an extrovert/introvert. And I thought "Yes, exactly!" I love hanging out with family and friends, but my only-child-self also craves time at home alone. I adore puttering around the house, staying in my pjs all day, baking or sewing or reading or napping, just me and Pistol. With that in mind here's my to-do list for this weekend:

Read blogs
Read books
Make stuff
Take naps
Take a walk
Theoretically, I suppose I might do some cleaning. Lord knows, the house could use it.

I think that should make for a very full weekend.

Here's some stuff I made at ArtFest

2008-05-10T07:04:00.001-07:00

This is the adorable little suitcase I made in Pamela Huntington's Just In Case class. I was a bit apprehensive going into this class because Pam's style is very pretty and vintagey with soft muted colors. I love her work, but my style is very different. I thought I would be the weird girl with the bright colors. I was the only one with colors this bright, but it was all good as everyone in the class brought their own unique style. The cases all turned out very different and each was a very personal expression of its maker.

One of the many cool things about ArtFest is how down-to-earth the teachers were. The three I had were almost more facilitators than teachers. They showed us techniques and they answered questions and gave excellent guidance, but most of the time in class was spent making and there was an expectation that we would pretty much do whatever the heck we wanted. The teachers were so accessible and encouraging to every single student. The atmosphere was "we're all artists here" not "I'm the teacher and you are the students." Pam was just delighted with all the different directions we pushed her techniques.

Here's the inside of my case. One of the main reasons I chose this class was to get some instruction on making fabric paper. I've tried it before and never could get it right, so I was very excited to finally figure it out. The inside top and bottom are fabric paper made with a batik and tissue paper with embedded bits of paper and fake flowers.

The other technique that was super-cool was the way we applied the fabric around the outside edges (the hot pink "binding" in the top photo). You soak the fabric in watered-down glue. The fabric gets all sticky and stretchy and you can just stick it right on your surface and manipulate it to fit. It dries nice and tight and very solidly attached.

I'll post more about my other classes soon.

Finally

2008-05-06T06:39:00.000-07:00

It's finally spring.

Sunday I went for a walk. More of a stroll really.

It's finally warm. I wore shorts, a t-shirt and sandals. My hair is long enough for a ponytail now.

Trees are finally leafing out, flowers are finally blooming. I just ambled along, enjoying the warmth of the sun on my skin, the chattering of the birds. Letting myself get distracted by flashes of color, wander into fields for a closer look, literally stop and smell the flowers.

This one smelled exotic and spicy.

Lovely.

Garden Party Dresses

2008-04-21T12:20:00.001-07:00

Here's my excuse for not posting more about Artfest yet. I'm very busy making art! (OK, and I haven't gotten around to taking pics of the art I bought and the art I made.) But I have been busy finishing up this quilt. I'm calling it Garden Party Dresses and it's 21" by 27". And it has a sleeve and a label and it's going to hang in a show this weekend. That's me, right on time!

The show is Imagination Unleashed: Dreams and Illusions put on by Sew Uniquely You. Saturday and Sunday, the 26th and 27th at The Old Church Arts and Cultural Center, 405 William Street, Post Falls, ID. It's a contemporary/art quilt show and Anna has promised that my paper quilt won't be "that weird quilt made by that weird girl."

Pistol took an active helper cat role in finishing this up. Such a good little (gigantic) helper cat.

"You should definitely use this thread mom. It smells good." (Yes, he's the one who put the thread on the quilt block.)

"Hmm, and maybe some of these buttons. They look tasty!"

ArtFest 2008

2008-04-13T06:23:00.000-07:00

So...umm...wow. I'm having a bit of a hard time being coherent about ArtFest. I use superlatives like wonderful and amazing a lot here at art:quilt:play. And that's ok, because I'm all about appreciating the wonder of everyday life. But ArtFest was something...more. ArtFest has a reputation for its great atmosphere, its creative energy, so I was hoping for a really cool experience. I got that...times 10.

It was magical. Yes, the classes were awesome and the setting is beautiful. But the atmosphere...Wow! There was such openness, energy, sharing, acceptance, understanding, friendship, freedom to be yourself. I lived completely in the moment for 3 full days. After all the stuff I've dealt with over the last year-and-a-half, I was so ready for this time and place. It felt like a miracle.

OK, enough babbling. This picture of me with new friends Kristie, Cheryl and Layla sums it up much better than I can. Just plain joy.

Exhilarated. Exhausted.

2008-04-06T16:35:00.000-07:00

Home from Artfest. Unbelievably wonderful and amazing. Lots more later. Must take nap now.

There's no place like home

2008-03-30T07:11:00.001-07:00

Be it ever so snowy. I was so happy to get home Friday night that I didn't even mind this icky blanket of cold-and-wetness. After a completely ridiculous week in which I started a new job AND cleaned the rest of my junk out of the garage so we could close early on the sale of our house, I packed my bags Sunday night and went to Olympia for a week of new-job training. And if you think that was a run-on sentence, try living it. Sheesh!

The trip had it's ups - a wonderfully restorative lunch hour spent at the Scarlet Empress, an early evening spent at Shipwreck Beads (holy cow people! this place is HUGE!!!), a lovely family birthday party for cousin Ryan, a fun, interesting class packed with good information. The trip also had its downs - cold, snowy (!) weather and me in lightweight business clothes, a stinky rental car with no ice scraper, a pervasive feeling of exhaustion, reports of a depressed cat waiting for me at home. On balance it was a good week, but I just wanted to go HOME.

Yeah right. When I got to the airport my flight was already delayed over an hour due to weather. Then there was a maintenance issue with the plane. Then we boarded. Then we sat and watched maintenance guys in baggy yellow rain pants climb on and off the plane. Then we got off the plane and went back to the terminal. Then we got on a different plane. Then we sat and watched the baggy yellow rain pants guys get on and off that plane. Then we got off that plane and stood waiting in the freezing cold tunnel place. Then we got back on the first plane. Then we sat and watched the baggy yellow rain pants guys get on and off that plane. Finally we took off, still under the threat that if we couldn't land in Spokane due to the weather, they would bring us back to Seattle. Noooooo! There was giddiness and cheering when we landed in Spokane. I didn't even mind having to clean all the snow off my car. After all, at least I had an ice scraper.

Bits and Pieces

2008-03-17T06:41:00.000-07:00

I'm it.

2008-03-07T06:45:00.000-08:00

Sheila tagged me a while ago to list 7 random things about me. So here goes:

1. I don't like coffee. Or really anything bitter. Dark chocolate and some vegetables are challenging.
2. Pistol is the first cat I've ever lived with. I used to think cat people were a bit crazy. Now I get it.
3. I like lots of light. I don't really get the whole dimmer switch concept.
4. I have a law degree but I don't practice law.
5. I've been left-handed from the cradle. Mom says anything placed in my little baby right hand would be immediately switched to the left hand.
6. I surround myself with bright color, but I prefer to wear neutrals.
7. I like the process of sewing by hand a lot more than the process of sewing by machine.

I have another one of these deals from Judy so stay tuned for more random quirky stuff.

A daisy day

2008-02-21T07:08:00.001-08:00

I've been telling friends that the last 3 weeks of my life have reached the level of ridiculous on the stress meter, but then I remembered that right before that I had the evil sinus infection/horrid rash combo. Sheesh!

But yesterday, yesterday was a lovely daisy of a day. I got an offer for a great job that I think I'm really going to enjoy. The offer brought resolution to more than a year of uncertainty and stress in my life. And I found out that I will definitely be able to attend Artfest in April! I signed up and paid for Artfest in September to give myself something to look forward to, but whether or not I could actually attend has been one of the many uncertainties swirling around me.

So what's a girl to do to celebrate? Shopping of course! Even more loveliness awaited me. I found some cute shirts and pants and I had to buy smaller sizes than I originally tried on! This despite the fact that my workout routine has gone horribly off track lately. I will have to start exercising again to ensure that I will be able to keep wearing my new clothes! And then I found this book:

M. Joan Lintault Connecting Quilts, Art & Textiles. The pictures alone are worth the cover price; the in-depth, insightful thoughts Ms. Lintault shares about her artistic process...well, let's just say I can't wait to spend a long afternoon absorbing this book.

I finished off my daisy day standing outside gazing at the eclipsed moon. Lovely and amazing.

Taking a break

2008-02-03T10:42:00.001-08:00

I'm taking a little break this morning. A break from the crippling weather...a break from the crazyness of life this past week.

I'm taking a moment to enjoy the sunshine...and the quiet. A moment to hang out with my cat.

Soon I'll head back to the hospital where my dad is recovering from open heart surgery. He is doing very well, but this came as a shock to all of us. Of course it coincided with an already hectic and draining week and with some of the worst weather of the last 40 years. But such is life. The crazy teaches us to appreciate the quiet.

even more dresses

2008-01-22T07:17:00.000-08:00

Here are dresses #5 and #6. Apologies for all the dark pictures lately, it's practically impossible to get a decent picture up here in the frozen tundra these days. It was actually sunny yesterday, but way too cold to go outside for pics.

To look at my blog you'd think all I've been doing is making dresses. There have been some other creative activities happening, but mostly there's been a sinus infection followed by an allergic reaction to the meds. The weatherman just said it's 1 degree out. Ugh.

Lucky studio cat - he has all that fur to keep him warm.

more dresses

2008-01-16T07:37:00.001-08:00

Here's dress #4. I'm leaving the edges unfinished because I'm planning to sew them together like quilt blocks. As for the short sleeves Sheila, it's always summer in my head! The flowers are made with my painted/collaged paper and a flower-shaped paper punch. I love these!

And this is a little minidress. ;-) It's ATC size and very cute!