Think Art, Just Start!

I finished a quilt that I've been working on for a couple of years. I tend to worry over a design for a long time before I can begin. Here's one I finished.

Time to begin again!

Exploring Montréal

Summer is the busiest time of year for my clients so I haven't had much time for personal art. While our son was off to National Boy Scout Jamboree in Virginia, hubby and I spent a week in Montréal.

We stayed at the Hilton in downtown near the Metro and train station.

It's a beautiful downtown with lots of green space, flowers and old mixed with modern. There are tons of huge old churches in the downtown area.

A tour guide explained that real estate developers are requires to spend 1% of their budget on public art. There are beautiful sculptures near all the modern buildings.

We stumbled into the "Just For Laughs" street fair one night.

There was a giant crane that lifted the dancers 15 stories into the air.

The next group of dancers heading for the stage. Montréal is a 

French-speaking city so all the songs were in French. 

The weather was cooler than Texas, so outdoor dining was quite pleasant.

We roamed the city with a Metro/museum pass. 

This artist courtyard was near the harbor. There is an extensive underground with shopping and restaurants that connect a lot of the downtown buildings to the Metro. 

Outdoor dining on McGill College Street.

Atwater Market.

I wish we had found the Atwater Market on the first day instead of the last day. In addition the the beautiful produce, there were shops with cheese, sausage, wine, etc.

I recommend Montréal as a great adult getaway.

Dye Retreat 2010

I spent a week in steamy East Texas dying fabric with my friends. Four of us have been getting together since 1996. You can read more of the history here.

Ken added a wonderful deck of the back of his wood shop this year. We hooked up our sinks and a shade cloth. Very civilized.

Progress on the first day!

We tried a bit of discharge this year with 25% bleach and had better results than in previous years.

This one is cotton velveteen.

Chewey, the supervisor, sleeping on the job.

...a monoprint of a floor piece.

Kathi made the traditional cappuccino mousse.

Kathi, Tonya, Jill and Linda visited Ken at the lake one evening. The breeze from the lake was a nice change from the heat. This was another wonderful retreat. I can't wait to get started making something with my new fabric.

Happy 10th Anniversary, Twisted Stitchers!

The Twisted Stitchers art quilt group met at Julie's house for a 10th Anniversary party last night. We shared a wonderful Mexican pot luck meal and played with her darling pups. 

I'd been holding on to a package of PMC (precious metal clay) for a couple of years. Julie has been experiment with PMC and encouraged me to bring mine to play with. It's so fast!

A 16mg package of PMC3 yielded all of these charms.

The larger two in the foreground have been burnished.

The two circles to the left have only been brushed with a brass brush.

The whiter ones toward the back are straight from the kiln.

They baked at 1200º for 20 minutes. So after an hour, including warm-up and cool-down, I had all these fired pieces. Very fun! Thanks Julie!

Rusty's second Birthday

We had a birthday party for Rusty last night. He is two years old today.

Roady, the backyard neighbor, arrived in his stylish Doggles.

The humans enjoyed ice cream while Rusty and Roady romped in the backyard.

A rose is a rose...

I was the fortunate recipient of a box of fancy and sheer fabric from mixed media artist, Lisa Qualls. Several of her pieces included stitching and screen printing. Lisa agreed to let me finish some of her tidbits to make donation items.

This cool leaf was the inspiration for a small bag purchased at the "It's in the Bag" auction by a delightful lady in a matching purple dress to hold her Kindle.

A Rose is a Rose... (16.5x16") was almost a top when Lisa gave it to me.

I added the folded red rose and bound the left and bottom edge

 in red to balance the red on the top right.

I backed the sheer screened roses with red felt and machine quilted them with white thread.

I added these red glass discs,

and some red seed beads.

This mini and lots of other handmade art will be in the Denton Quilt Guild silent auction on June 17 from 6:30 to 7:30 at the Center for Visual Arts in Denton, Texas.

a peek

I haven't bogged in a long time because I haven't finished any art lately. I've been doing a lot of graphic design work for clients. (A good thing.) And supervising my son with his end-of-the-year projects.

He painted a book cover on a ceiling tile for a book report in English.

I hope to see the English classroom someday.

A patrol flag for 2010 National Scout Jamboree.

Packing for Pre-Jamboree Campout this weekend.

Including patch sewing, backpack patching and strap making.

Rusty is worried that he's not going with Berek.

I did some quilting on my self-portrait.

...and some quilting on a donation mini quilt.

...and some quilting on another donation mini quilt.

A little bit at a time.