Rain Delay

This is the street in front of our house that is sheer ice. Fed Ex, Refuse Collection trucks and the Postal Service trucks have all needed chains on their tires to navigate the neighborhood ice rinks, I mean streets!

School was cancelled along with several area businesses asking employees to stay home and off local roads due to icy, horrible weather conditions. Kids are even ice skating on neighborhood streets!

We've had unusual, crazy warm weather that's 40-50 degrees outside and it's been pouring rain. The bad news is that the temperatures are supposed to drop back to near normal that will be freezing all this moisture. Seems like a good time to be in the studio!

 This new strip quilt I am experimenting with has the perfect color palette that my new poppy pattern uses. I'm still deciding on the fabrics for the sample pattern I need to sew and photograph for the cover.

 This above photo is the second new pattern I'm working on. The idea for this pattern is to use scrap pieces of fabric for the flowers. I'm thinking of maybe putting these flowers on a white background with a bright border and finish.

 Below is the "Raven Lovers" gift basket that I'm donating to the 2013 Fire and Ice Ball -benefitting Covenant House Alaska! The items in the basket include an illustrated Raven art print "Lucky Ravens," metal Raven ornament, two Raven Art Quilt Patterns, limited edition Raven fabric AND a special Raven themed Art Quilt that I made using hand painted art cloth! "The 2013 Fire & Ice Ball will be held Saturday, January 19th, in the Anchorage Marriott Downtown ballroom. We hope you will consider joining us for an evening of dinner, dancing and exciting auction items!"

Art Making in the 'Hood

On the heels of a neighborhood Crazy Dave’s Pumpkin Ale and pumpkin-carving-fire-pit party last night (complete with bales of hay, de-lish homemade soups by Lee and fresh Fire Island Bakery breads), I invited several neighborhood kids over to the studio for a day of art making and sewing. Sitting around the fire under the starry night, my neighbor shared how she was teaching several of the kids to sew and they were making pillow cases.  I thought that was such a cool idea and that if they wanted, I had enough room for everyone in my studio if they’d like to get together for an art day. Thankfully, we didn’t start our post-pumpkin crafting until well after noon because all of the adults had way too much PUMPKIN last night –and I don’t mean pie! The kids carted two extra sewing machines over to my house and we had three sewing machines whirring at once with ironing, cutting and piecing with the studio abuzz. What a sight to see all these kids with their busy hands and creative minds at work! My neighbor came as well, thankfully providing instruction and encouragement for the young artists. The kids were elementary age and eager to learn, to sew and just “make,” –their enthusiasm was inspiring. The boys made cool drawstring bags and all made creative garden flags using images of fast cars, goldfish, sea turtles and dolphins. We used digital images as well as hand-drawn images that we transferred onto fabric for their very own garden flags. 

After the craft-fest and renewed energy, I finished getting all my pieces hung for the show. Below are my latest pieces for my upcoming show that opens Friday, November 2nd at 2 Friends Gallery.

Needing to provide a finish to the Art Cloth for my upcoming show, I found these handy clips to hang the cloth from branches. The gallery already has some birch branches they are using as display props so I thought using branches would compliment  the 2 Friends Gallery branches while solving my finishing/framing issue. The cloth is designed to be used in another fiber piece, like an art quit but this way the art cloth can be purchased and hug as-is and I didn't have to spend a fortune buying custom frames.

 

Soggy Sewing

Saturday, October 6th is the 16^th Annual Friends of Pets Quilts and Creations Quilt Auction!  This popular auction features animal themed fiber arts of all types and benefits the community spay/neuter assistance program . Friends of Pets provides vital animal welfare and protective services for abandoned animals with respect, compassion and integrity and is staffed entirely by volunteers and supported by donations. For the last couple of years I have wanted to donate a piece for the auction but always missed the deadline –but not this year! Thankfully, Ruth Q. reminded me via email it was that time of year and I was able to make two pieces. “Pets are a Girls Best Friend” is 20” w x 14” h and “Dog Breath and Friend” is 22” w x 25” h. Both are original designs that I used the applique, fusible web method of quilting. Each piece is embellished with fun, free-motion stitching and is ready to hang.

 Should you find yourself in Anchorage bid high and bid often at the Friends of Pets Quilts and Creations Quilt Auction!

Saturday, October 2, 2012

University Center Mall

It’s been easy to be in the nice, dry studio working on projects since it’s been RAINING outside most of the week (month). Between record high destructive winds and now flooding throughout most of Southcentral Alaska it’s made for a soggy, blustery fall. These photos below are from our friend Carol P. on the Kenai River and showing the flooding where we would normally be fishing this week… the entire dock which normally is about 3’ – 4’ ABOVE the river is now under water along with the fire pit area. The good news is that the lodge sits on much higher ground above where these photos were taken but still there is a lot of damage across the state. 

Our thoughts are with our friends in Seward, the Kenai Peninsula and Talkeetna, all who have experienced property damage due to the increased rainfall.

The inset photos were from Labor Day weekend where the dock sits high above the river with the boats tied up below. With the flooding the river is up and over the dock into the fire pit area. That's A LOT of RIVER!