Asilomar projects finished

I'll be gone for a little while on vacation--so I'll leave you with this lovely sunset shot taken at Asilomar when I attended the Stitches Camp there in April. The other pictures are zippered purses that I made there using my class samples. I brought feltable wool (noro) and made my samples from that, so later on I could felt them and make these purses. Talk about planning ahead! Sometimes I amaze myself. There are two purses, not four. But since each side is different, I photographed both sides. These are very handy for carrying knitting accessories like scissors, etc.

Margie's Basket

My friend Margie (click on her blog link in my "Friends who Blog" list, lower right) made this lovely felted basket for me last year. It is knitted in some ingenious slip-stitch pattern so it looks like it is woven, but it's not. Then she threw it in the washing machine and felted it. Isn't it cute?

Afghans for Afghans

This weekend, I made a baby hat and socks to donate to Afghans for Afghans (www.afghansforafghans.org). This organization is based in San Francisco and sends wool hand knitted items to Afghanistan, mostly for children. I found the two patterns via links on their site. The hat pattern is on a site called Fiona's Friends (http://www.needlebeetle.com/fionasfriends/free/lphat.html). It calls for Lambs Pride worsted weight yarn, but I used some Jo Sharp wool from my stash. The sock pattern is from http://www.knittinghelp.com/knitting/free_patterns/sock-pattern,php. It calls for North Country Cotton, but I used the same wool yarn as the cap.

What is an art quilt?

If you take a look at the art quilts that I post in this blog and on my web site (www.salume.org), then you are familiar with at least a couple types of art quilts. And you already know more about art quilts than most other people.

But if you'd like to know more, then you can also read up on the history of art quilting. This article was written by Robert Shaw, who has also written one of the most complete books about this topic:

http://www.saqa.com/news/history_Shaw.aspx

The Studio Arts Quilt Association is dedicated to expanding awareness about art quilts around the world. You can learn about the organization's origins here:

SAQA history:
http://www.saqa.com/aboutus//history.aspx

Butterfly Bricks and Mystery Stole

Okay, the Butterfly Bricks quilt is a shot I took in Houston, Texas last November when I went to the big quilt show there. I took a bus tour to a grand estate that was owned by Ima Hogg. The gardens are probably lovely in the summer but they don't have many flowers in November. There is a small flower bed in the shape of a butterfly, with the sections outlined in brick--this is a small portion of it. I quickly made the quilt, but then realized the gray tones were a bit boring. So recently, I overpainted the bricks with irridescent watercolor paint in an orange tint. I think it helps...it is just very slightly shiny.

The other picture is my Mystery Stole, I just finished Clue 3 today! I am using an overdyed perle cotton thread. The stole starts with a point, so I can assume it will end with a point--but until all the clues are published, who knows???

Myself, a few years ago

This photo was taken many years ago by my first husband, who was an excellent photographer. He had a way of printing the pictures that made all the shadow areas go completely black--I was not actually posing in a dark room. Yes, that's me! This piece is being framed right now, it is quite small--the entire quilt is only about 16 inches by 20 inches. I did something new--I covered the pieced photos with a layer of hand dyed silk mesh fabric that I bought at the SFQG quilt show in Feb. just for this quilt. The silk has some variations of color (mostly red) that you can see in this picture--the photos underneath are more evenly black.

Flowers in the urinals, oh my!

At the San Francisco Flower Show earlier this year, I walked into the bathroom and found bright pots of chrysanthemums in the urinals! Yes, they had turned the bathroom from a Men's room into a Ladies because there were so many women at the show. I had never seen such a lovely sight.

Fabric Books

These are a few fabric books I made. The largest was also the first--I cut a failed watercolor painting into strips, then wove those together with fabric and sewed it all on the machine. For the inside pages, I fused various bits and pieces of fabric together, and fastened it with a fimo clay button that I purchased a couple of years ago.

The two smallest books are made with spin art. I saved a few of the pieces my kids made when they were younger.

My vest designs

In Ginger Luter's class, we did some design sketches for modular knits. These are the vest patterns I came up with very quickly. I forgot to bring along some colored pencils, so I had to do all of these with a ballpoint pen! But I think that is almost better--I focused on the designs instead of what colors to use.

Asilomar Knitting Retreat

Here I am with Ginger Luters, who taught the class on Modular Knitting that I took at Asilomar last weekend. I am wearing the triangle scarf that I made in class, using Noro Silk Garden Lite yarn. It seems a bit scratchier than normal Silk Garden yarn, but the colors are great and it's a good weight for a skinny scarf. I had a great time at the retreat--we went into Carmel one afternoon, and the weather was quite nice, although I was surprised that I was able to wear my heavy cotton patchwork knitted sweater every day, because the wind was quite chilly right off the ocean.

Garden Railroad Quilt Show

A friend of mine, Anabeth Dollins, sent this picture of her quilt show in a garden railroad. She gave me permission to post it here. Isn't it the cutest thing you ever saw? She also has a web site at anabeth.dollins.org/grr.html where you can see more garden railroads.

Here's what she says about the quilts: "The mini quilts are no larger than 3.5" by 3.5" -- most made from cheater cloth. The two Amish style quilts are real pieced quilts. All of the quilts are hand-quilted."

Adorable.

still knitting like crazy

Okay, so I have not done anything in the realm of painting or quilting, but I have been knitting! The socks here are the Victorian Lace pattern, available only to members of the Six Sock Knitalong on yahoo groups. I used Cherry Tree Hill supersock yarn that I bought on a recent trip to Virginia. I also attended the SAQA annual meeting in Athens, Ohio and got to see Quilt National in person at last, a long-cherished dream. I bought a small quilt there and had a great time. On the plane flight home, there were at least three knitters busily stitching away--two of us were making socks, the other was making something lacey.

I've been tagged!

Carol Larson has tagged me to give 7 random facts about myself. When you're tagged, you're supposed to post 7 random facts (not 'interesting' facts, or 'secret' facts) about yourself in your blog, and also post the rules of the game. Then you tag seven others, and list their names in your blog. Leave those you've tagged a comment on their blogs so they'll know they've been tagged and to read your blog. So, here are my 7 random facts:

1. My first child was born when I was 18 years old.
2. I drive a red Rav 4.
3. I love blue cheese.
4. My favorite color is green.
5. I notice things that other people don't.
6. I use a PC at work and a Mac at home.
7. Sometimes I iron my sheets.

I know I'm supposed to tag seven more people, but that seems too much like a chain letter to me. So I'll just challenge anyone who reads this to post seven facts about themselves in their own blogs...voluntarily.

my incredibly talented daughter

She said that this idea came from a "weird" phone conversation she had with her brother recently. Hmmmm.....

sock monkey!

I just finished knitting this cute sock monkey, using some cotton yarn and a pattern by Carol Wood (woodrose46@yahoo.com). This happened because I am trying to use up some of my old yarn stash...

Beatrix Potter

Did you know that Beatrix Potter was not just a children's book illustrator? She also was an excellent botanical artist--these are two small samples of her work. I just ordered several books about her art and life: "Miss Potter," "A Victorian Naturalist," and "Beatrix Potter: A life in Nature". (The last two books are not available through Amazon--I found them at Abebooks.com.) The DVD of "Miss Potter" (movie) is coming out later this month--I did not see it in the theatre, so I will definitely be renting it.

Landscaping Completed

We recently relandscaped our front yard--added a stone patio, got rid of the lawn, planted lots of flowers. The red pots are for growing herbs.

A teaser cat

This is just one block from a quilt I'm working on--I am using a commercial pattern but changing it a bit. There are nine cats all on the same brown plaid background, which is a Japanese fabric. Originally, the idea was to use some of my vast stash of Japanese fabric, but of course I have barely made a dent. Next step is cutting sashing and sewing together the blocks. It's not a bed-size quilt, although I can add some borders to make it a bit larger.

Patchwork book

I've been on an email list for quilters for many years, it's called Quiltnet. One of the members, Becky Sunderman, contributed some "ways to hide your stash" to this book, available through Amazon. Becky says that 66 other people contributed stories, also. I haven't seen it yet but it sounds like a fun read.



This is my favorite book right now--it has some great advice about living in Paris. Although it is for writers, I just pretend it is for artists, the same advice applies. Very inspirational and extremely well-written.

Socks, socks, and more socks

Here's the real reason I haven't posted a lot of quilts and paintings--I have been busy knitting. These socks are patterns from the Six Sox Knitalong, a yahoo group. I had to make the pink socks because the pattern is called April in Paris and they have tiny Eiffel Towers on them when you turn them wrong side out. (They are actually knitted wrong side out.) The second pair is in progress, I just started them yesterday because they are called Horcrux socks and I know my Harry Potter geek daughter will want a pair. Also, this weekend I spent a couple of hours organizing my yarn stash and I really have to make a lot more socks...

Drawing the Landscape

At the garden show last weekend, I met a very nice artist, Chip Sullivan, who has published a book about drawing landscapes. I looked at every book vendor's stall at the show, but couldn't find it. (It's available at Amazon, though). Chip has a funny "cartoon" business card, and he drew a little sketch of his garden booth in my journal! His wife, Elizabeth Boults, is a landscape architect.

While I was standing there, another person attending the show came up and told Chip that his book had inspired him to draw several years ago, and he showed us his sketchbook. Of course, I had to show off my journal, too. Chip has a web site: http://www.gonzogardens.com/

The other person I talked to a lot, LeaAyne Wilmot, was knitting a very interesting sock, adapted from a design by Blackberry Ridge. She was selling ceramic covers for switchplates, so of course I had to buy one for my bedroom wall. She doesn't have a web site but her email address is juneberry@plix.com. (JuneBerry is the name of their company).

It's not art but...

I went to the San Francisco Flower Show last weekend and saw many lovely things--but this was the most memorable. They had converted a men's room into a ladies restroom, and this is how they did it.

I'm starting a new, BIG watercolor tomorrow, so I'll finally have something really new to post. I am also working on a totally different quilt that actually came from a purchased pattern! So things are in the works...

My birthday

Your Birthdate: August 1

You are a natural born leader, even if those leadership talents haven't been developed yet. You have the power and self confidence to succeed in life, and your power grows daily. Besides power, you also have a great deal of creativity that enables you to innovate instead of fail. You are a visionary, seeing the big picture instead of all of the trivial little details. Your strength: Your supreme genius Your weakness: Your inappropriate sensitivity Your power color: Gold Your power symbol: Star Your power month: January

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

I met Alex Anderson

At the recent San Francisco Quilters Guild show last month, Alex Anderson was the guest of honor. I was lucky enough to venture to her display of quilts early in the morning when there was nobody else there. We chatted for awhile, and her husband snapped this picture of us.

The other shot is of my winning quilt, which is printed on fabric--I took the photo at our last quilt show, two years ago, so it seemed appropriate to enter it in this years' show. Our guild has the most beautiful, hand embroidered crazy quilt ribbons--it is always a thrill to win one of them.

Watercolor post cards

I scanned in two watercolor post cards together--they are actually separate cards, one with a sketch of the green knitted bag I recently felted, and the other with a sketch of some green ferns that I saw at Yerba Buena nursery in December.

The other picture is pink tulips next to a vase, I finished this watercolor painting today. The knitted shawl they are sitting on is one that I made about two years ago.

Blue sky ahead

I took this photo of tree branches in Hawaii last summer. The little seed pods and flowers that cling to the bare branches add a bit of color and detail. This little photo quilt is about 24 inches by 30 inches. The photos have been printed on fabric for awhile, but then we went to San Diego and other things were happening--so I let them sit until I got a notice about the next Members Show at the Coastal Arts League. I didn't have any new photo quilts to enter, so I whipped this one up in about three hours from start to finish!

Work in progress--upside down

I finished this painting yesterday. It's a vase I bought at the Kings Mountain Art Festival last summer, the artist carved fish into the clay so it almost looks like wood. I put some dried leaves into it and photographed it on top of a black and white plaid kitchen towel. In this picture, I have turned it upside down so I can work on the leaves--the reference photo above it is also upside down. Working this way is an excellent drawing technique as it tricks your brain, so it doesn't think of the shapes as "leaf" or "vase" but instead, sees them merely as shapes and colors.

One last camellia

This was really the most dramatic of the camellia pictures that my son shot for me at the Huntington Gardens in Pasadena. A shaft of sunlight came through the bushes and hit this fallen flower like a spotlight. Gorgeous.

Another stupid web quiz

You Are A Cypress Tree

You are strong, adaptable, and striving to be content. You're good at taking what life has to give - even if you don't like it. A passionate lover who can't be satisfied, you are quick tempered at times. You hate loneliness, want love and affection, and need to be needed. A bit of a live wire, you love to gain knowledge any cost... and you can be careless at times.

What's Your Celtic Horoscope?

Christmas Wreath

This Christmas wreath is my latest finished painting. The actual wreath that inspired me has artificial apples and berries mixed in with real twigs and pine cones, but I think they look real in the painting. It took about six hours to paint.

A series of squash

It's been awhile since I posted, but I have been busy painting! These are three that I completed, all the photos were taken at Farmer John's Pumpkin Farm in Half Moon Bay, a really fun place to visit during the Halloween/Thanksgiving season. The largest one, six pumpkins, is painted on watercolor board--it is illustration board with watercolor paper bonded to the surface (made by Crescent, I order it from Cheap Joe's online).

Therese May's class at Houston

Here you can see the small quilt blocks I made in Therese May's class at the Quilt Festival in Houston. She gave us the background squares of fabric, which are nine inches square. Then I cut out fish from another fabric she provided, and fused them on along with some wiggly yellow pieces that look vaguely like seaweed.

Then the fun began--painting the heck out of it! I used squeeze bottles to paint edges around all the fused pieces, then a brush to dab spots of paint all over the squares. I think the paint really unifies them so it does not look like pieces of fabric stuck on top of a background. The closeup shows one fish square on a black background.

The link is to a fun knitting web site I just found! Check it out.



I also made four skull necklace blocks. These need outlining to bring out the necklace shapes--they are lost among all the paint dabs. This was tons of fun! Now, what do I do with seven fish and four skulls???

Here you go--two new photo quilts

Last night I printed and sewed together these two small quilts, one using the picture of the spiral bricks, the other using the blurry trees. I added thin borders of a graduated gray/black fabric. All ready for quilting! At the Houston show, I ordered a Handi Quilter "sit down" long arm machine--instead of long rails to hold the quilt, it is set into a table just like a regular sewing machine, except the machine is facing me instead of sideways. I hope to finish many more quilt tops using this new machine! But first, I have to move two bookshelves out of my sewing room to make space for it.

More Photo Quilts

I went to the big quilt show in Houston, took a lot more photos, and am now working on two more quilts. You can see the photos here. Look promising? The next blog will show you the finished quilts (I hope).