misc

August

August 13, 2023 2 Comments

We’ve had a pretty nice summer, not too hot, cool nights and mornings. The one thing we haven’t had is rain, it’s been pretty dry.

I have a loop I walk, sometimes lost in thought, other times stopping to chat with the people I’ve met. Mostly I watch for how things are the same and how things are different. Some houses are maintained perfectly so that they could be in a magazine. Others slowly decline, are sold to new people and remodeled, painted and loved again. The biggest changes are the plants. Come springtime, they appear, then grow, flower, bear fruit and die. The weather, the seasons, there’s always something new happening.

By August you can feel the beginnings of fall. It’s a ways off, but with the dry weather, the shorter days and the fruits and vegetables coming on, you can feel it coming.

Lawns are turning a soft brown.

Except for dandelions, they seem to be doing ok.

Lawn turning soft brown except for dandelions

Echinacea does well in our hot dry summers.

And zinnias, growing and blooming and loving the sun.

Zinnias blooming in flower bed by a sidewalk

Luckily, there was no dog to bother me when I took a picture of these gorgeous roses.

Salmon colored roses and Beware of Dog sign

Harvest season is here. Vegetable gardens line the sidewalks. These cherry tomatoes are growing over a fence. Almost ready to be picked.

Cherry tomatoes growing over a fence along a sidewalk

How about these corn stalks? You can just see one of the ears, close to ripe.

Corn stalks and corn growing in a garden along a sidewalk

The fruit trees seem to be on steroids. This one, bursting with pears hanging over the sidewalk. I have to duck to walk by.

Pear tree full of ripe pears along a sidewalk

The most outrageous tree has been dropping apples for days. They line the sidewalk with a narrow path through.

Ripe apples dropped from an apple tree along a sidewalk

I try to get out early, before it gets too hot, walk my loop, make my plans and get ready for the day.

Whether you’re spending your August at a lake, by the beach or in your neighborhood, I’m sending all my happy end of summer wishes to you and yours.

Applique, Fabric Sale and a Fancy Watch

June 18, 2023 8 Comments

I am absolutely ready and eager to start a piecing project. I want to pull scraps from my stash, cut fabric up and start rearranging, sewing and creating something new.

But when I wander into my studio, instead of piecing, I find myself working on appliqué projects.

For example, this coat. I found this amazing kimono silk and wanted to appliqué skinny gold strips to emphasize the wandering steam design. No waiting around, no first I’ll piece a new jacket. Nope. Instead it was Appliqué.

Now.

Below, the strips pinned in place and ready to be basted.

Just before the black and white stream piece above, I was working on another appliqué piece, a wide shawl collar for a coat. It’s is from another amazing kimono silk, this one a shibori design in red and white.

Shibori, it’s the impressive Japanese tie-dye. In the detail you can see where the threads were tied tight around each of the circles. The little squares I’ll appliqué are also from a shibori, this one with tiny circles instead of big.

The woven red silk I’ll use for the coat has a classic design of overlapping pieces of fabric.

If you are anywhere close to Portland, I hope you or any other fellow fabric fiend will come to our big fabric sale. Several friends and I will be going through our stashes and offering fabric, notions and other sewing related things to sell at greatly reduced prices. I have way too much! And will be selling silks, wools, a few cottons and even some of my kimono silks that I can’t use. In addition to fabrics there will also be Elisabeth Gillem’s shibori pieces and Marla Kazell’s sample garments. And lots more!

Next Saturday, June 24th. I hope to see you there!

And one other thing. A friend sent this link and I can’t stop thinking about it. It is so cool.

I have never paid any attention to fancy watches. I knew they existed, but never had a thought about them, until I saw a little video about the making of a Patek Phillippe Grandmaster Chime watch. I was mesmerized. The craftsmanship is so impressive. Check out the video here.

Next up for me? For real. A piecing project!

Visit to Oaks Bottom

May 21, 2023 3 Comments

It was winter forever, cold and rainy. Then we had spring for about 4 days. And then 90 degrees!

Thankfully, Portland’s cool and shady Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge is a fantastic way to spend a warm Saturday afternoon. Dedicated to protecting and improving habitat for native plants and animals, it’s 168 acres of wetlands, meadows and woodlands and, amazingly, only a few minutes from downtown Portland.

We walked through Sellwood Park, past rhododendrons in full bloom.

and open fields with people playing baseball and frisbee,

then through a picnic area dense with evergreen trees

to a steep path.

Gorgeous.

At the bottom, Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge.

A beautiful meadow,

with a path

leading to the wetland,

just visible here through the branches of a young oak.

After all our rains, the wetland was full. There is a lot of water.

So beautiful.

With an alluring path along the edge.

If you’re lucky and walking with someone with a good eye, you might see a turtle.

Just visible on the fallen log.

Or a great blue heron.

A closer look.

The perfect way to spend a warm Saturday afternoon.

A big thank you to the people who worked to save this place for all of us to enjoy.

For more information about Oaks Bottom, check it out here.

Since the Baltimore Show

April 16, 2023 4 Comments

It’s not unusual for people to need a bit of adjusting for the clothes they buy from me. Sleeves might be too long or too short. We may decide to take it in a bit or let it out. Some people like a snug fit, other loose. So usually, for a week or two after a show, I’ll take some time for altering.

I’ve cut back on special orders, but there are still a few that I do. Like this one. A customer asked for a jacket in black and white. What a cool idea! It’s finished and ready to ship.

I’m thinking I’d like to revisit this style again.

Below, a snap shot of the sleeve sections in process.

It’s not just altering and special orders, because, as I finish up from the show, I think about new work. I lay out fabrics that are calling to me.

These gorgeous fabrics are inspiring!

I’m also wanting to make a beaded jacket. This pretty blue shibori silk will be the base. I lay out beads of different colors, shapes and positions until I land on one that looks right.

I ended up with this, with the beads clustered towards the ends of the leaf shapes. A photo helps me to remember how I’ve laid them out.

And yes! Always a good idea. A break! Away from my studio for a short trip to one of my favorite places, Astoria, at the mouth of the Columbia River.

For this trip I was determined to focus on being there. “No photographs!’ I told myself. Just enjoy the moment.

But I could not resist the scenes down by the river front. This place is magic.

The mossy remains of piers. The miles wide Columbia river. The enormous cargo ships.

The ships wait for their turn to go up river to deliver and/or pick up goods from cities all along the river.

As I walked along the water front, I snapped a photo of a couple of coast guard boats heading out. Because the Columbia River Bar is so treacherous, the Coast Guard’s National Motor Lifeboat School is stationed here. It’s the perfect spot for people from all over the world to come and train for water rescue.

Check out this photo I downloaded from the Coast Guard website. Can you imagine the challenge of rescuing someone out of this?

And this excellent article in the New York Times about their water rescue training program.

Amazing.

All vessels engaged in foreign trade, like this one heading out, are required to employ a Columbia River Bar Pilot. The Bar Pilots guide the ships from the ocean to just past Astoria and back out again. Check out their website here.

I mean, the coast guard folks, the bar pilots, … Yow. I am beyond impressed. You guys.

It was only for a few days, but this trip was the perfect way to clear my mind, think about something completely different, change my focus, look in a new direction and start something new!

Trip to the Bay

January 22, 2023 5 Comments

It’s been over three years since I’ve been to one of my favorite places. Covid put a stop to the annual San Fransisco ACC craft show and I haven’t been back since August 2019.

I’ve missed my annual trip there, so I was very happy to be able to go down for a short visit. This time, instead of August, with the perfect San Fransisco sun and ocean breezes, it was cool January with lots of rain, rain, rain. You’ve read about their flooding? I packed a rain coat and warm sweaters.

Happily, there were enough breaks in the weather for walks in the neighborhoods and visits to parks.

California is not Oregon. They have citrus trees. With oranges. Right in their front yards.

Definitely not Portland.

And lemon trees.

In Oakland, right next to the sidewalk and hanging over fences.

Lemons.

And magnolias blooming.

Portland has magnolias, but they won’t bloom for weeks and weeks.

There weren’t a lot of signs of the heavy rains, except I did see evidence in the lake at Oakland’s Temescal Park.

From all the run off, the water was a muddy brown color and over flowing its banks.

But still beautiful.

No fishing.

Most definitely required for me, a day in San Fransisco.

Did I mention it’s one of my favorite cities???

I still get a thrill when I see its outline cross the bay.

First stop, the Presidio. An army base until 1994, it is now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

The old army buildings are still in use, except now, instead of soldiers, they are leased to businesses and organizations.

I was there to see the most recent addition, the Tunnel Tops park.

The Presidio Tunnels Parkway, the southern highway access to the Golden Gate bridge, goes through two tunnels. On top is the Tunnel Tops Park.

Below is a 3-D map showing the park. That’s the Golden Gate Bridge in the upper right corner of the picture. Can you see the highway disappearing under the park?