Sunset over the Olympics

One of the many pleasures of residing in the Pacific Northwest is the gorgeous skies at sunset.  This time of year we enjoy daylight past 9 p.m., and so this view from my bedroom window is my occasional "sheet show."  Looks like hope to me.

My Art Glass Clamshell

The Pacific Northwest is a hot spot for art glass "hot shops" and Tacoma is home to the renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly and his Museum of Glass.  For Mother's Day my son and daughter-in-law gifted me with a blow-your-own glass experience.  Here's what I learned: molten glass from the crucible is HOT HOT HOT (about 2100 degrees) and once you have some on your rod you have to work fast and keep sticking it back in a "glory hole" to keep it molten.  Here's what I actually did: chose four colors and a finished shape.  My teacher did all the handling while I occasionally rolled the rod that held the red hot glass bubble and blew into a 3 foot long rubber tube when he said blow.  Never was I tempted to remove my thick leather gloves and was I glad I only wore a light t-shirt.  All in all a very exciting half hour.
Should I trade in my sewing machine for a crucible?  Whaddya think?

Play for Me, Daddy

Lately the most creative I can be is with photographs. With my IPhone I caught little Bridget trying to get my son to play for her.  Then I used the Snapseed app to crop and make it black and white.  It was a touching moment that didn't need any color.

Tacoma Spring

"Earth laughs in flowers."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Abalone Sunset 16" x 24" 2012

One day last fall when all I had to worry about was my next art quilt, I was sorting through some of my own hand dyed fabrics trying to figure out how to put them away.  In what color category does one put multicolored pieces?  Or pieces upon which one has added painted fusible web?  Anyway I held up the pink and blue piece and, voila, there was a sunset.  Then I found a piece of black dupioni silk upon which  I had ironed Lumiere painted fusible web.  That became the beach.  Then my son got sick and so it was deserted till I returned home in January.  Actually I found comfort in having my sunset awaiting my attention and some beading to finish it.  The bird is completely stitched with iridescent black seed beads and the beach has a mix of paua (New Zealand abalone) and assorted other beads that looked right.  Now I'm back in Tacoma with my darling Bridget leading me around by the hand and waiting to learn the next treatment for my son.  My heart is thumping.

Kaikoura 33"x72" 2012

Though not quilted--at least I didn't shoot it full of pins--I've finished my freeform piecing for Karen Musgrave's challenge using her fabric.  As I added the border it began to remind me of the gorgeous beaches of New Zealand which my husband and I visited in January 2011.   Kaikoura was one of them.

The quilting must wait as I'm going back to Tacoma to be little Bridget's Grandma for a few weeks.  She's up and walking so I'm packing my runners.

Best of Show!

Yesterday I had the honor of learning that my little "Prayer" won Best of Show in the Small Art Quilt category at Best of the Valley Quilt Show.  I didn't get a good picture with its ribbon because my hands were shaking.  My son's health is not good and we are waiting to learn when he can go to a clinical trial in Washington D.C.  I cling to hope that this prayer has real power.