Paris Cafe Art Quilt... Done and a Rocket Quilt Started

 Well, I did add a few more final touches after these photos were taken, but it's done!  It's 40 x 50 inches with a white border.  This was made especially for my machine quilter, Annie who has done a wonderful job on all the art quilts I've made so far (except for the small ones which I did).  I hope she likes it...

 To the left is the latest art quilt.  Last year around this time, I made a mermaid quilt for our daughter (drawn and painted on Kona cotton, then sandwiched and quilted).  She loved it and my son wanted a 'rocket/blast off' quilt.  I had a mind block about it for a LONG time, since... well... I'm more in tune with mermaids than rockets.  Finally I asked him to draw me all his fave rocket ships and BOOM!  I had the basis for the quilt.  It will fit a full/queen bed nicely.  I'm so eager to get it all painted... but will take a lot of drying time before I can do all the sections.  (our dining room table is only so big :)

Will report back on rocket progress in the coming weeks. 

Now if I could just get that Light Project zine started... have not found time but hope to before school is out.  Happy weekend :)

Tea and Toast

Still cleaning out the studio, this time it's the printing studio.  SO much junk, bags, scratch paper I've saved over time.  Why did I think I would actually USE it?  Who knows.  We'll have to pay the trash man extra for this week and probably the whole month but what a feeling when it's done. 

Found this old, large watercolor (from art school) - bone china and all sorts of toppings on toast.  These are some of my favorite things :)  Hope the weather is as nice as ours today... about 75 and sunny with a slight breeze.  Pure bliss!

Cats

When I first moved to this town, I took a Sumi-e class for something totally different to try - and meet some new art friends. It was a fun experience, taught by a first generation Japanese lady who was very nice - but the perfection of this process just wasn't for me.

I've been cleaning out my studio and getting rid of A LOT of stuff that's just been piling up. It happens while in a constant state of creating. Along the way, I found all the old sumi-e stuff. With fresh eyes, I thought, 'Hey, these don't look THAT bad!' They're kind of nice. So, I decided to keep them. Still have lots o' rice paper and plenty of ink sticks but just can't picture myself doing this again. Funny how some things stick and other things just fall away.

Hoping to share a finished art quilt with you all this weekend... along with a dummy book for the upcoming zine. Until then... have a nice night!

Heading Off into a Happy Weekend

We are so ready to do fun park/outdoor activities! The tiny little buds are growing and some are even sprouting newborn, yellow-green baby leaves. (especially the lilacs - this is the 'Lilac City', you know!) We are planning picnics, soccer and days at the park - with a stop or two at the Goodwill donation truck. The spring cleaning going on around here is BIG. Feels so good.

Have a great weekend :)

ps that lower photo was taken in Sept - not a true scene of spring in Spokane!

The Light Project... shells

Here are some pen and ink sea shell drawings I've been working on lately. They are a sort of specimen approach.. which I like. Science was never a love for me, but as I grow older, I feel it's a gap in my education and want to learn more. Specimens with text are very alluring to my eye. There will be more to come and as soon as the shells are finished, the zine will be assembled into a 'dummy book'. With all the kinks worked out, a zine will be born and land in the etsy shop!

We finally had warmer temps today 65 degrees and a few patches of sun, wooo hooooo! To the park we go, twice today :) AAHHHH, the sun.

Happy Easter... and Spring (maybe)

Check out the Easter egg hunt from a few years back... the kids are monumentally bigger now. It's all going so fast :( I need to find out a way to slow it down - when I do, I will share :) We'll be having another one tomorrow along with the standard fare and celebrations at Grammy's house.

I'm off for a dog walk, window washing and secret Easter shopping (for the hunt and such). We went to Portland for spring break and all the cherry blossoms, pansies and daffs were EVERYWHERE. It has me pining for flower planting and maybe a few veggie plants, if I can manage NOT to kill them. (our soil stinks, mostly rock and sand).

The sun is shining for now, better get the dogs leashed up!