Out for a spell

Today I got to go to the movies and escape the Studio for few hours. I am working on four quilts at once. A bit complicated but it has some logic behind. One is at the beading stage so I can do that while watching television at night. One is in the tracing stage. It is a whole cloth quilt that I am going to manipulate after I do the stitching. Then one is on the board to ponder over. Then finally one is getting feathers for a couple of wings. I had made a quilt a while back that needed something extra. I always wanted to add wings. I found some interesting turquoise fabric that is working with the finished part. So there. I did trace a fifth one too but that one is going to have to wait for the whole cloth to be done. I also have to come up with a little blurb about the show. A final title would be nice too. I am thinking of Snapshots from the Labyrinth or From the Labyrinth or Fables from the Labyrinth. So anyway I am getting on panic mode right now. I did take a time out and got to see "The Darjeeling Limited". It was wonderful. I laughed a lot!!! It is about three brothers taking a trip to India after their Dad's death. Here is a link to know more about it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Darjeeling_Limited I did enjoy myself a lot. Got to eat popcorn and drink Coke... something I never get to do unless at the movies with Curt.

Halloween Bunco at Connie's

Yes it is that time again! Get your outfit ready and come on over to view our Monthly Bunco Babes Gathering. It is a tradition now that was started many full moons ago that the October Bunco would be staged at Connie's House (isn't she cute?). Why? It is the scariest house ever....but in truth: She is willing! Connie, who is the most hospitable of the bunch, loves to decorate her house for Halloween. OK, so this year we had two people backing out of coming at the last minute.... SCARY!!!!! for the hostess that had to find replacements in few hours but nothing to be afraid, Connie has resources (a phone and a computer and a long list of friends) and gathered two of her willing friends. So here are some pictures of our fun evening. The loudest were of course Helen and Becky. We will not mention the winners and the losers because Bunco has nothing to do with skills. I totally hate this game and have no luck whatsoever but usually end up with good partners that carry me to the finish line with gusto. Why playing then?.... Good question! Good company, good food and I always have the secret hope to be a Bunco Queen one day so I practice and persevere. Hahahha (use a wicked witchy voice when you say that)... So here we had Two Hippies (this is one of them, the other one was talking nonstop with Britney sort of a hippie groupie kind of gal... see above..., she even went to gather the bunco beads for Britney after she had a Bunco... unbelievable...ahhahha), an Indian Woman in an Arabic outfit (She has the cutest feet), a pirate and her parrot, an Hockey Aces fan and her friend's young parrot, a Storyteller (she didn't help us on predicting the winner...), Mother Earth (she was anointing us with sprigs of wheat for future fertility!!!!!!), a Scary Nurse out of Beetle Juice, Britney Spears with her dog..., A Commando Woman showing of and showing she can,

a Pregnant Woman (too much anointement on this one...), and a very Chic Woman who didn't know about the dressing part...

Thank you Connie for another year of fun.

Work in progress

This quilt has been evolving very slowly in my mind for few years. It started with the red batik that I made at Color Creek studio one day with the NoNaMee's. It was an overall pattern of hearts. Very loose hearts intertwining into each other like a ribbon. It really illustrates what is "love" in a global sense. All those lives meshing in and out of each other and going on to seek more of the same. So I had always wanted to make something out of that piece. One day few years back still I cut out the batik into a coat of love. I wanted to represent that person walking and taking with "it" this symbol that would be warm and contagious.

The face came easily as a sort of a guru. One eye close to introspect, one monocle to continue observing life fully and the third eye with an hidden view of the truth. That connection to the sublime. Then again later I found the background piece that would be perfect. A sort of universal city like setting. That was to be my canvas for the Labyrinth of the person's journey. The route. Of course the ground has to be secure and straight for balance, for hope and for strength. I am still to work on that part.

Notice that the shoes are very soft almost like slippers not to startle or hurt anything under the sole not even the smallest bug. "I love it"... To be said with a German accent for best effect..ahhahhaha
Do you think that to know what is behind a piece helps the viewer or not? does it send you to a different direction to the one that you were going? I would like to know what you think.

Kite Flying Over Lava and Tumbleweed

I have completed a quilt that my friend Bunny wanted. I am putting in the mail Monday. Just wanted to share it before it flies away.

Work!

I have worked a bit in the studio and at retreat. Only one thing finished, many on the board, more in my mind. The show that I am working on is themed around "Labyrinths and Mazes". The choices and the decisions that you make in your Labyrinth, how you navigate in it and who you encounter along the way. The shieldsthat you need to protect yourself. The imaginative world that you build around it. Those demons that you need to conquer in order to advance in the maze and get to your destination. I believe that it is a subject that has been on my mind forever but to concentrate this in one show is challenging. Will there be any continuity visible that the viewer will grasp my theme without reading the lines of the introduction? Am I worried about the viewer or myself? I might be worried that I am not getting to what I am looking for... I might be worried to get to the destination before learning what I need to learn before getting there. Here are few of my attempts.

C'est beau l'Alaska!

Yes, Alaska is beautiful! The Autumn season is very short but not to be missed. People around here do not want to go anywhere in the summer because they are afraid to miss the best part of Alaska. I totally disagree... not a big surprise some of my friends will say:" She disagree with everything!!!" Well they might think so because I do have few opinions and I do voice them out once in a while... I do agree with a lot of things though when you pay attention but that is another story... where was I? Oh yes the season that I would not want to miss is Fall in Alaska. The whole world here turns to gold. The forest is mostly made of Birch trees, some Cottonwoods that turn into the lightest shades of yellow to the darkest ochre. The ground turns to a rust up to violet offsetting even more the yellow of the trees. Of course you have the occasional green of the Spruce that are getting scarce because of the beetle that is slowly killing them all over Alaska. I happen to have few that are still healthy and I am very happy about that. I always make a point to take a lot of pictures during that time while going on walks and it never fails to give me a boost of happiness before settling into the dormant mode of Winter: The last hooray before the big sleep. In my opinion Summer is better spent somewhere else in order to be sure to have one. It rained so much this year and never got hot. I only ate on the balcony a couple of times this Summer.

The first week of October is also the Fall Retreat. I go among friends to an old boys scout camp where I spend four days sewing and creating in the woods. It is by Edmonds Lake and a small pond. The sunsets are unforgettable. The mountain behind the camp lights up on fire for a half hour. It takes your breath away. The reflection of the sky, trees and the leaves floating on the pond were such a sight I captured it