Checking In Again

Image from "fedegrafo" at morguefile.com

Morguefile.com is a great place to browse for inspirational photos. You are allowed to use them for free and without getting any special permission, though most photographers do retain copyright. Great for artistic inspiration. I rarely use a photograph directly, but find they are great for sketching and color inspiration. Terms of use are on the website.

I took down the post of my "Roots and Wings" piece since it came to my attention that even though you can see all of the show pieces here http://www.flickr.com/photos/studio-259/sets/72157604132217537/ , we are still discouraged from posting on our blogs. Not sure if I have this right, but I didn't want to take any chances. Rian, thanks for taking time to comment, I can always count on you!

I have found myself spending less time in blog land lately, but I did just finish a fantastic book. If you are looking for a good read, try People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. I got my copy here at the library and it's probably available at yours if you don't want to buy it. Worth owning though, it's an excellent read. I have been trying in recent years not to buy so many books since after a while storage gets to be a problem. Same with fabric and art supplies, though I am a little less successful in that area. I look around our overfilled house and think "simplify, you MUST simplify". That is kind of a buzzword these days, but it is true. The clutter of life takes over if your don't work to keep it under control.

Checking In

As you can see, I've finally gotten to use my new space and am working on a happy mess. I'm having great fun using the inks and markers along with my fabric collage. Guess I'm on a "blue" kick lately. Blue room, blue themed project. Maybe I''m trying to make myself feel cooler. The last couple of days have been way too HOT for April.

Outside in the yard, (you can get just a peek at the dirt and rocks through the window) things are a mess as we proceed with creating the water conservation landscape. Just in time, too, since we got a notice that water charges are going up again. We must use water to keep the fruit trees going, and even on drip irrigation it gets expensive. After we are finished, almost everything will be on drip. Traditional sprinklers that spray out into the air waste water through too much evaporation. Things will be a little dull outside until we get the plantings in, but at least I have my indoor flowers. I love flowers and the little potted ones last longer.

I don't know what little Nikki thinks of all this, but she has claimed her spot in the new space.

My New Studio

Here I am, only a week ago, sewing in a very crowded space. No sooner had my son left with the last of the things he wanted, I got to work on his old room. LOTS of painting and cleaning and furniture moving later, here is my NEW sewing space:

Notice the wall bracket, just waiting for my new LCD HD TV. I might have to wait a couple of months to get one. In the meantime I have my old boom box to listen to audio books from the library. There is also my trusty IPOD for music.



Take a good look, it will never be this clean and tidy again!

A Family quilt, A Big Thank You, and a Happy Dance

Here are just a few things I've been up to since I last wrote. Pictured is the wedding quilt that we have been working on as a family project for the last couple of weeks. Actually, several more family members than are pictured had a big hand in the construction of this quilt top, but these are the gals who were present as we finished the last border. The quilt has been handed off to my friend Barbara, and it awaits her magic touch with the longarm.

I received a nice surprise from Deb in the form of a PIF challenge gift. She sent me a beautiful tassel, complete with lots of textured and multicolored fibers and charms. (You can see pictures of what she made if you visit her blog). It hangs in a place of honor in my studio, reminding me that it's time now for me to get busy on my own PIF (pay it forward)gifts.

My third exciting bit of news is that my piece "Roots and Wings" has been accepted into the Fiberarts of Southern California show "The Voice That is Great Within Us". This is their first juried exhibit, I believe, and it is mine too. I am thrilled to be included, and will share the website for the work when it is posted. I know it is my best work so far, and it it is beyond exciting for me to know that I will be showing it. So, a little "happy dance" for me.

Another reason I am feeling wonderful today is that my son is home for a visit. It has not been that long since I saw him, but I am "soaking it up" because it might be a while before the next trip. He is emptying out the final things he wants from his room, and then it will be free for us to do with as we will. Of course he will always have a place with us anytime he needs it, but I DO have my eye on his larger room with better natural light for my new workspace. I have been looking at studios online, at sewing furniture, at design walls etc etc.
I am feeling mainly indecisive about the whole thing from the paint color on (bright and cheerful or neutral?), but I do know that focusing on a future fun project makes me less sad about the finality of all this moving out and moving on.
Any suggestions about "must haves' or "be sure to avoids" regarding setting up a studio are much appreciated!

A Fine Spring Day

These are "file" photos from my yard, taken last month. Today is supposed to be cloudy and cool, a good thing if you are working in the yard. Jerry and I have busy days planned, but we are working on different projects. He has hired some help and rented a "sod cutter" to remove most of the grass portion of our yard. Around here "grass" is something of a euphemism, mixed as it is with all varieties of weeds. The cleared area will be the new home of some garden paths and beds of drought tolerant plants, our effort to use less water in our arid region.

My projects, for today at least, are indoors. I will be doing a quick house clean, throwing together some crock pot chilli and setting up sewing tables for a group. We are doing a family wedding quilt since another nephew will be getting married in June. A few years back we started this tradition and it is always fun. Since it is hard to know how the bride wants to decorate her home, we do a "Christmas" quilt. This seems to have worked out well. So far, we have all the blocks made and up on a design wall. Today we will do the quilt top assembly, add borders and piece a backing. I have lined up my friend Barbara to do the quilting on her longarm so we can have it ready by April 19th (the shower date).

In case you were wondering, my trip to San Francisco last weekend was fabulous. I didn't do any shopping, but I had a great time walking the neighborhoods and some of the parks with my son Andy. I got a good feel for how he is living, and now when we talk I can picture him in his new environment. Lots of good quality family time with some of the other relatives too. Our weather was just perfect, made to order. It really could not have been better. San Francisco has such a good system for so many things that are lacking here (good public transit, better and easier recycling for EVERYTHING). We make every effort, but it is nice to see "green thinking" as part of government.

San Francisco Here I Come

Right after I blogged about our early "summer" weather, things cooled off considerably and we even had some rain. Although there is no rain in the forecast right now, this was probably good preparation for my trip to San Francisco. I am leaving tomorrow for a long weekend in that lovely city, and I am especially excited to spend time visiting with my son Andy. He has been home to see us, but this is the first time I will see where he lives. He has lots of plans for us, and I am looking forward to them all. This is not my first time in San Francisco, so there will be no need to do the usual tourist things. Instead I can focus on his neighborhood (Haight). More family will be visiting at the same time, so we expect to have a lot of fun together and a very special Easter celebration. I only wish Jerry were coming along, but he will be stuck at home babysitting the elderly pets. Sadly, I think we will be travelling one at a time as long as they are still with us.

Get Ready For Summer

I thought I'd show you the great quilt my friend Kathy made and shared at our last quilt group meeting. What a hoot! (This is all applique and not a panel.) She made it for a dear friend of her mom's, but unfortunately I think I can see myself in this picture.

In most parts of the country Spring is just getting started, but here we are gearing up quickly for summer. Inland temps are going to be up near 90 today. I love the sunshine but not the heat, so I don't look forward to those triple digits that are sure to arrive when summer really gets here. On the coast it will be much milder. I have to spend most of the day indoors at work so I won't be seeing much outside until very late in the afternoon. I love that we have daylight savings time again and have so much more time for our evening walks at the lake.

I have been working like mad to get everything together to submit to the "Voice Great Within Us" show. I love the piece I made for it and I think I have a good chance to get in. I can't share it here just yet though. I only have a day or two left to get some better photos since I'm not happy with the ones I've taken so far.

On the family front, we are also working madly to get a quilt together for the next wedding shower to be held in April. We have a family tradition of making a quilt for each wedding with all the women participating. The men would be welcome to help us too, but so far none have shown an interest. To tell the truth, I think it is more fun with just the girls. My sister in law Diane and I cut all the pieces and made "block kits" to pass out to the participants. We will have an assembly day at the end of the month. I will share pictures when we get it all together.

In the yard we have a mammoth project to remove the turf and make a drought tolerant garden. What a lot of work! We clearly are going to have to hire some help for this one. We visited the Cuyumaca College gardens to get ideas, and we found that we already have many of the plants they are showing. Jerry is changing out most of the irrigation in the yard to drip now. We have had the orchard on drip for years but we always had the typical grass lawn up near the house. I hope this isn't one of those projects that drags on and on. Wish us luck!