Animals and cool shoes

The part of the Camino we were on is in Galicia, the northwest part of Spain. It's very rural and agricultural. There were animals everywhere, very close to the road. Often, actually, *on* the road. This cow watched us eat lunch one day.



Check out these shoes. They are very common among farmers. They are carved from wood; the funny sole keeps the feet out of the muck and they are easy to hose off.



These chickens were also guests at one of our hotels.

More Camino pictures

A lot of the time the Camino looked like this. We were often in forests, with no one else around. I walked alone alot, pretty much going at my own pace. Other pilgrims were respectful of one's need to chat or not.






This is a typical village. Narrow streets going between ancient stone houses and barns. There was always a little church, too, usually open. In one little hamlet, there was a woman standing in the path, selling fresh sugared crepes (I don't know the Spanish word for crepes.)




This woman was walking between her home and a nearby village. 250,000 people walk the last part of the Camino every year, so she hardly noticed us.

Camino de Santiago

My husband and I went to Spain, to walk the Camino de Santiago. It was a beautiful trip, but not for the faint of heart. We walked 140K, or about 85 - 90 miles, in a week. We had great weather, and I took loads of photos. The shell is the image of St James, and it's everywhere. Here is the shadow of a fence in Samos, at the monastery there.

This is our group, starting off on the first day. There were eight of us and a guide walking every day. There was also a "sag wagon" for anyone who was tired of walking, and every couple of hours it would be on the side of the path somewhere, where Carlos , another guide, would make sure we all had water.



Here we are on the second day, at the highest (and coldest!) part of the trip. See how the pilgrim in the statue is leaning against the wind? We were way up in the mountains, and the wind was sometimes fierce. Fortunately, after this, the weather warmed up, and we weren't quite so high up. The rest of the week we had great weather - cool mornings and no rain.

Tomorrow, I'll post some photos of the Camino. I'm hoping to use some of the recurring images in quilts.

Home Again

We had a great weekend away, sewing. Seven of us met at the Methodist Retreat Center a few miles south of Annapolis Maryland for 3 days of sewing and catching up. The weather was almost perfect - one brief downpour, but the rest was sunny and bright.

I have a million purses, and I hate them all, so I'm constantly on the lookout for a better one. After making a bunch from other people's patterns, I took matters into my own hands and designed my own. It was pretty successful, and I carried it for so long it fell apart. So this weekend I dediced to make another one out of an old pair of jeans. Here's the result. I took this pocket off the rear and sewed it onto the front, but it's not really functional because everytime you open the purse, anything in this pocket will fall out!

This pocket is on the back of the purse, and it too is a rear pocket. Here, though, I just cut the fabric so that the pocket would land there. It might be useful for keys or something like that.

I'm pleased with how these pockets worked out. I can use the little key pocket for my cell phone - it fits perfectly! The bigger pocket will hold my camera. I made pockets for the inside for other things like my iPod and lipstick. The lining fabric is from a dropcloth I used while doing soy resist painting at

Cathy's

house one day. After I finished the purse, I decided that the drop cloth fabric should have had a higher use than as purse lining, but oh well.

It needs *something!*

It's really too sunshiney to day to take photos, but I did it anyway. You can tell that the lighting isn't right; it's much lighter at the bottom than at the top. Anyway, in person, so to speak, I love this piece. It's 2' x 3', intended to be a processional banner. In the photo, however, it seems to lack something. But what? I've covered this olive green silk with layers and layers of thread, and I think I'll paint on it with gold paint. I love the effect of the paint over the thread.

You can't see it, but the photo is in blogger somewhere! And I've spent enough time messing with it!

I've done another, as well, with a bluer green silk: "irredescent emerald" I think the bolt said. It's intended as a pulpit hanging, and I think it needs rethinking completely. It may end up as a painted banner, too, and I'll do the pulpit hanging again.

Anyway, I'm off this weekend to sew with 6 other art quilters:

Cathy,

Floris,

Mary Beth,

Elizabeth,

Linda, and Dale. We have done this every spring and fall for TEN! years, and here's a photo of us from last fall, when Mary Beth's sister joined us. That's the West River behind us, and aren't our shirts cool? Elizabeth and I found them at KMart for $1 each last fall, while on an emergency search for a coffee makerand barbie shoes.

Unfinished projects

I haven't posted since last week, before I went to New York. We had a great time, visiting galleries and museums. We saw the Munch exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art, and clearly we haven't suffered enough! He was really depressed. There is a scathing review of the show in today's Washington Post, saying that Munch wallowed in his mental problems and used trite and bland imagery. Other reviews have been more positive - there's one in a recent New Yorker Magazine, and this month's Smithsonian Magazine has a big article, too.

Anyway, back to the topic. I have had to put off finishing a couple of things (no deadlines!) for working on things that are coming due. This past week I was in Virginia with my sister, putting a stained glass mosaic on a counter top. We got carried away and put one on the back splash, too!
The photo of the counter was taken from the stairs, leaning over the railing; that's why it's so skewed.

We arrived at the house about 2:30 on Monday, and by 3 we were hard at work. We worked steadily until about 11, except for a sojourn to the emergeny room for a tetnus shot for Nancy. She cut herself on a sharp piece of glass and since her last tetnus shot was way more than 10 years ago, I made her get in the car and drove her to the hospital.
But other than that, it went quickly and by Tuesday evening we had both surfaces ready to grout. The grout needs 72 hours to cure before sealing, so next time I'm there, I'll seal the backsplash and pour a two part epoxy resin over the countertop to give it a smooth surface and protect the glass from us and vice-versa.

Off to NYC

Well, I'm off to New York tomorrow with three friends for the weekend. We're going to see the Edvard Munch exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art, and other than that, we're playing it by ear. No husbands, so we get to do as we choose. The weather is supposed to be warm, with only a chance of showers. Warm is the operative word here, in my opinion. So, when I get back on Sunday, I'll have photos to share.

Dallas Miniature Textiles Exhibit

I am participating in the International Miniature Textiles Invitational-Dallas. I decided to try the iridescent fabric on darks for that piece, and here's what I submitted: Night Garden.

While I worked on this little piece (11 x 14) I struggled with being so rigid. I need to think less about fabric and more about value. Maybe I should re-organize my fabric, but OH! what a chore that would be. Maybe a big sign over my work space would do: THINK VALUE

The Waterfall Diptych is finished.

I finished this piece last week (a month ahead of the deadline!) and we hung it yesterday. I'm pleased and so is the client, and the decorator who recommended me, too. It's hung on either side of the entry from the client's living room to the dining room, pretty high up. Each piece of the diptych is individually lit, and the lighting emphasizes the iridescent fabric. The beads look like stones, and the client actually thought I had sewn stones on it. I put way more beads on it than I had planned, but I love the look.

Progress in the Dirty Workroom

Finally! I painted that white plywood this wonderful red-purple color: Dark Iris. The color (on my screen anyway) is pretty accurate. Next I taped it, with the idea of adding stripes.

The blue tape will come off, revealing the original Dark Iris color, with stripes of a lighter color in between. I painted the edges of the blue tape with the background color. It makes a seal, so that blobs of the next color won't ooze under the tape. Well, that's the theory, anyway.

This is the room where I paint stuff. Fabric, furniture, floor cloths. To the right of the newly painted plywood is the utility sink, and under the work surface in the foreground are two small dressers and a rolling set of drawers. In another space I have a raised work table, and there are shelves along one wall. There are also a freezer, miscellaneous chairs and most of our holiday decorations.

A Blank Slate

I was messing around in my utility room, also known as the dirty workroom, and I wondered if my husband had ever put up those plywood sheets he bought for me. Voila! there they were, and I have no idea how long they've been there. The idea is to hang shelving in front of them, and the plywood will keep the stuff from falling off between the studs. Ask me how I know this.

Anyway, all that bare wood called out for paint. So here it is, all primed and ready to be tarted up. Or Nancy-ed up, as we like to say, since my sister will paint anything that stands still and isn't suitable for mosaic. Stay tuned. As soon as the primer dries, I'll start with the paint.

Weather Notes

Last week's snow storm left us under 18 inches of heavy wet snow. It split two branches on an ornamental red maple outside our front door and was generally a nuisance. But it was pretty while it lasted. My town, Columbia Maryland, was the "epicenter" of the storm. We're finally in the middle of something, and it turns out to be a major storm!

My husband and I spent the weekend on Virginia's lovely "Northern Neck." The weather was gloomy and wet, and it snowed a good bit on Saturday. It didn't amount to anything, but the sky was an interesting mix of clouds and clear spaces. We took this photo on the way back to Maryland, outside of Warsaw, Virginia, at about 5:30PM Saturday. I like the shaft of light radiating upward from the setting sun.

Progress!

I have gotten far enough along on the waterfall commission to post a photograph of the test piece. It's quilted but not bound, and I have not put the beads on it. Since this is a test piece, it may be a while before those finishing touches get done.





Here is the detail. Most of the irredescent fabric is sewn into the seams, but there will be a few curly-queues on top, with beads on them. I think this piece really needs lots of beads and lots of seed stitch, but. . .

Get Over It!

This piece, Get Over It!, just sold. This photo is not very good - it's keystoned, but it's the one which shows the color the best. I'm about as good with PhotoShop as I am with the camera, ie not very.

I'm happy to have her go to a new family who will be glad to have her in their midst, but I'm also sorry to see her go. I have a big blank spot on the wall where she hung. There is another one in the same series hanging there: Living Well Is the Best Revenge. I suppose it's an invitation to do another one.

How Many Irons Do You Have?

As I've gotten older, my definition of "toy" has changed. Dolls used to be toys, yo-yos were toys, but never something like a car, a chainsaw, or an iron. Now, though, think how cool it is to get the car that you want, how much fun it is to drive it around. I gave my husband a chainsaw for Christmas (yes, he is qualified to use it!) and he was thrilled to death. Ok, bad turn of phrase, but you know what I mean. And so I turn to irons. I use my iron everyday in my studio, so it's technically a tool. But I use it so much that it qualifies as a toy, in that it was fun to go buy it.
I have three irons. This one I bought recently when I decided I needed automatic shut-off or I would burn the house down. Contrary to popular images, I wasn't loathe to spend money on something as pedestrian as an iron. I was looking forward to seeing what new features, in addition to the auto shut-off, I could have in a new iron. Actually, there weren't any. But it was still fun to go buy it.

Here is the one it replaced. This is a great iron, but it gets really hot. That makes it good for ironing lengths of fabric and shirts (Ha. Like I'd know.) but not so great for fusing and foiling. And any fabric that had too much finish on it would get scorched easily. So this one has been sent to live out its days in the laundry room, where its auto shut-off lets me have some peace of mind. I only iron clothes in a hurry, which is a recipe for forgetting to turn it off. I actually thought about having the outlet in the laundry room connected to the lightswitch, but I realized that it would be much cheaper to get another iron.

And here is the really old iron. Note the classic avocado green handle, dating it to the seventies. This was my mother's old iron, and I took it when she died. I keep it by the sewing machine for pressing seams and quick things like that, and it's connected to a power strip along with the lights and the machines. I don't worry about leaving it on anymore. And it reminds me of my mother, because once she looked in the laundry basket, took out the heirloom linens and gave all the rest of the stuff to Goodwill because she was sick of ironing it.

Apologies to TS Eliot

Actually, I don't think April is the cruelest month. It's interminable January, with its short grey days and cold nights. Of course, interminable February is right around the corner, with its short grey, wet days, always with the chance of snow. I want to get in bed, pull up the covers and stay there until spring.

Bearing that in mind, you can imagine how tempting it was to go back home this morning after torturing myself at the gym, instead of going to a friend's for lunch with 5 other women. I'm so glad I went. The antidote to January greyness is lots of laughter, with a heathy dose of chocolate on the side. I'm fortunate to have such good friends.

Making a 1/4 inch border, Part 2

These photos describe how to finish making the quarter inch border that I began to describe Friday.

Start this next step by laying the piece with the border attached on top on the new piece. Place the edge of the presser foot against the first seam line.



Sew the seam using the left side of the presser foot as your guide, as it butts against the first seam you sewed.







Here it is! See how even it is? Wasn't that easy?

Making a 1/4 border for your quilt

The other day I showed a friend how to add a 1/4 inch border onto a quilt, neatly and easily. I thought others might like to know how to do this, too.

First, cut border strips 3/4 inch wide. If you need longer strips, trim the ends at a 45 degree angle, so that the seam is angled. A border this narrow can't handle the bulk of butted seams.





Using your quarter inch foot, stitch the border strip onto the quilt.





Iron the seam allowance toward the quilt. This makes the next step mcuh easier.




Here is the skinny border, ironed and ready for the next border to be added this afternoon.

Another big step

Here I've inserted in the seam an iridescent fabric, cut on the bias, to simulate water. Being directionally impaired, I put it on the wrong side. The dark green/blue fabric was supposed to go on the other side of the light section, so I have to re-do it. When I make mistakes like that, I know it's time to quit for a while.

Auditioning fabric

I was busy today. In these two photos, I was auditioning fabric for the commission I'm working on. The photo on the bottom has the fabrics that won. I'll add another darker piece to the edge when I get all this assembled. But now that I look at it, I like the one on the top better. It's not to late to change it.