New Work and Getting ready for retreat

This Piece is shown here at a very early stage. It is ready to be quilted right now but no current picture. I am calling it "Urban Legend". There is a map of a little town with a tiny fountain on the background piece behind the Caribou Man (the image is from one stamp I have made). The background in the dark brown with gold dots is a piece I painted on Canvas few years ago. It was waiting for the right moment. I have more ideas I am working on. One is a medicine woman and the other a birdman. My studio is getting better. Still pretty full and cluttered but I can function in it. Soon the new lights will be in the works. Just in time for darkness to cover this top of the World.

I also am planning a quilt representing Fish Lake. So the season is going to be busy.

About Retreat:
Retreat is an important part of the year for me. One in the Spring, one in the Fall. In the deep woods of the Chugach Mountains, about 45mn from my house is Camp Carlquist. A Boy Scout Camp that host our little group of quilters by a pretty lake. For 4 days we immerse ourselves into our work, creating personal rainbows that make our lives more colorful. This Fall I am making a quilt from a pattern done by a famous published quilter"Judy Niemeyer. She is known for her intricate use of paperpiecing patterns. Anyway Emily fell in love with one called Rain Drops. I am changing the colors of the background into a chocolate brown. The rest will be in various purple red, rust, green, yellow, browns. . I am going to have all pieces cut out ahead of time in order to start sewing as soon as I get to Retreat.

I have been reading various books lately. Still not done with "My Name is Red" but enjoying it fully. There is a lot to take in and ponder about. Then there is "Annie Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral" by Kris Radish. Very light read with a great concept. A woman dies and instead of a traditional funeral this woman has organized a trip for her best friends to take and scatter her ashes along the way. Toute une aventure! Then a visual Novel called "Mr Fooster/ Traveling on a Whim. Then "Moral Disorder" by Margaret Atwood. This one is short stories. There is no one like her to put you right in the mood of the book. Example:"I think of the bad news as a huge bird, with the wings of a crow and the face of my Grade Four schoolteacher, spare bun,rancid teeth, wrinkly frown,pursed mouth and all, sailing around the world under cover of darkness, pleased to be the bearer of ill tidings, carrying a basket of rotten eggs, and knowing -as the sun comes up - exactly where to drop them. On me, for one."Isn't that just precious??? Doesn't that makes you want to know more? It does for me.

With One Voice

Blaines is a art supply shop in Anchorage that involves the community to paint a mural every year. This year is pretty fun and I spotted this namaste poser... I like it.

But now to go the subject of this post:
I have made a little quilt for the exhibit organized by Lynn Krawczyk a mixed media artist with a big heart. She is behind the "Breaking Traditions Art Quilt Exhibit". This year's theme is "With One Voice". I do have a link to the right of the blog entries if you are interested to know more about it. What came to me right away was the idea of the unsung heroes in each communities that volunteer and work like little elves in the background. The ones that will do what needs to be done without being asked. Three of my friends in Eagle River are part of those and I thought it would be nice to honor them in this little quilt. Anyway after cogitating a bit about what I was going to do to illustrate my thoughts I decided to use a piece I had painted few years back on canvas. I also had made a stamp with birds/angels and had played with them in small format fabric piece. I have made a couple of quilts with them already (this one is called "Nature in Flight")and wanted to use three of them on that project. So I cut the canvas to the required 12 inches size than added the three angels/birds. I quilted the little piece then embellished it with few beads and it is done. Here it is I had to make a little blurb about it:

"Terry, Della, Diana"

In my little community of Eagle River, Alaska, three women have shown up every time someone was needed. They are the first one to volunteer when others are running away They find ways to make things happen. They have made hundreds of quilts for homeless children, hats for cancer patients, shawls, blankets... No matter how busy and challenging their lives are they are looking after the well being of family, friends and others. They are an inspiration to me an every one that knows them. They are part of thousands of unsung heroes around the world symbolized by "One Voice" that travels through the human spirit toward hope and a brighter future.

Other than that Bears are really active around the neighborhood. Black bears and brown... A bit scary to take Gaia outside those days. Our little walks are pretty short.

On the balcony today I had two blue Jays and a Magpie. They were talking to each other in a pretty exited way. Then one was being curious. I love their colors.

Hello Hello

A month has passed since I have made an entry. Life has happened. Many things. I enjoyed having company visiting us(Curt with his Aunt Leonna). I went to Homer and Seward. I got three awards for a little quilt I made for the Bear Paw Festival in Eagle River. (this was the very terrible sketch that first came about, this is the final product and here is a close up of the face , oh the name of the quilt is "Running Away from the Circus" and it went to a very good home, my friend Lorraine got it at the auction). I went to see the new Batman Movie and loved it. I was terrified by the way people were reacting in the movie theater. Laughing at the Joker's mean doings. Some were actually cheering him on!!!! What is up with that??? I am working again in the studio. I broke my vows not to touch anything in there until it was totally organized. Well after more than 6months not doing anything I couldn't anymore "not do"... I had to do! So it feels fantastic to cut, sew, and play with fabric again. I also turned 49. Another year of youth so I hear but I refuse to go easy into old age. I will kick and whine all the way. You might translate that into Dance and Drink all the way.... knowing me that will be more appropriate. I have filled my days with Yoga also. I enjoy more an more this discipline. I call it this way because I have finally found something that I consider exercise that I can get passionate about. That is a first. In the last few years my idea of exercise has been going up and down the stairs of my house. I have a three story home and seem to go up and down all the time. It explains some of the mood changes occurring here too by the dwellers of this abode... No elaboration on this subject. Where was I? Oh yeah... Yoga! So I go now 4 times a week and I am planning on adding some two more sessions at home on my own. We shall see. That is why I call it discipline. Dedication is another term that would work for my new self. Yeah well maybe that is what getting old will mean to me. Starting to follow a new regimented life of Yoga, Dance and Wine.....

So Iadded some random pictures of what has happened. No many labels as it would take more than this site to explain everything that has been going on around here. (at the Salty Dog Saloon in Homer) Emily is still around for a week or so. She made me a fabulous Chocolate Mocha Birthday cake with Agave Nectar so no bad sugar. It was divine. Paul was my first Phone call of the day and that warmed my heart. Thank you to all my wonderful Family and Friends that took the time to call on my BD. I will get back on the blogging world more regularly from now on, I hope.

Busy or not busy? Difficult to say...

I feel like time has been out of control lately. Things have happened, good things but this stagnant weather has been difficult on the soul.

My baby turned 21 on the 21st of June this year. A milestone in the life of a young adult in America as she is finally legally drinking alcohol... I obliged the deed by buying her first legal drink. It was a shot of Jagermeister at the strangest bar in Eagle River. Emily described her experience having a Chugiak High School reunion.... She escaped it really fast and continued partying with her friends in Anchorage in more appropriate surroundings.

The next night was spent at the Moose's Tooth with her friends and my friends listening to the Third Eye Blind in Concert. It was a lot of fun and a great way to celebrate Emily's Birthday and the summer solstice. I went really close to the speakers and the stage and I was back being 21 myself with my heart pumping and ready to burst. Fun!

Since then my friends Martin and Dominique from la Cagnes in Saint-Jeannet, France are visiting. Curt and I went to pick them up in Whittier after their week of cruising the Inside Passage from Vancouver, BC. They have been busy since their arrival: visiting the area, going to the open house at the Elmendorf Air Base, going fishing (1 salmon caught by Dominique) to Lake Creek in a float plane and having dinner in a small cabin owned by friends of ours. They went to both museums in Anchorage. They went with us to a Chaine des Rotisseurs event ( wine tasting from South American with Duck, Lamb, Gorgozonla cheese fondue ??? and more cheese). They went shopping on 4th ave. They went to a party at Connie's, then we had a party at our house with Nancy and Jennifer. They went to Palmer and Eklutna. They went to Jitters. They went to our little 4th of July celebration in Eagle River and saw the fireworks while eating kettle corn popcorn and drinking Alaskan Amber beers.

This weekend Curt has taken them to Cordova and they saw a black bear on the other side of the river. They are leaving with an RV next week for Denali, Fairbanks, Chena Hotsprings etc. then will have another 5 days of fun before leaving for Europe on the 20th. They are the perfect guests so it is a real pleasure to have them around.

We are having more company coming shortly so I am getting busy around the house to get things ready for their visit. The weather is much better with higher temperature and some sunshine showing up once in a while. I had dinner at Nancy's last night on her balcony and it was warm enough not to have jackets on. The flowers are showing their colors and I think that summer is on it's way.

I also finished to read "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak. It has been a wonderful read. I cannot stress enough how original the format and how poetic the text is. The characters are unforgettable and it is going to be one of those books that I will enjoy reading again, just because. For last 20 some pages, the words are sooooo beautiful. I would love to be able to write like that. Anyway if you are wondering what to read next I would highly recommend that book.

One more thing I guess. Bear Paw is next weekend in Eagle River and I made a small quilt for their auction that I am finishing right now. The theme is around Barnum and Bailey, the circus.

That is it for now...

Open Studios, Book Club, Reading, Movie Marathon and Friendship

It has been a busy weekend. 17 artists and architects (Michele Suchland, Kim Marcucci, Sheary Suiter, K N Goodrich, Sheila Wyne, Alexandra Sonneborn, Brenda Roper, Susan Condon, mayer sattler-smith, mmenseArchitects, Black+White Studio Architects, Karen Larsen of creativespace, Erin Pollock, Garry Kaulitz, Sonya Kelliher-Combs, and Linda Infante-Lyons) were opening their studios for a tour organized by the International Contemporary Art Galley on Saturday. Jennifer decided to be spontaneous and joined Nancy and I for the Tour. It was a great experience to learn about what is behind those pictures on the wall... The reasons for their creation. The day ended with a delicious diner at Jessica and Mark. Since 4 members of the book club were present we decided to "pick" the selection for the October meeting. Drum roll........ the winner is: Room with a View by E. M. Forster. A true classic. Now that I am older... I might get something different out of this Victorian Novel. I have also gone to Florence 4 years ago and that might be fun to "visit" it through this book once again. Like Jennifer put it "It was a good day".
Today was yoga in midday and playtime in the afternoon with Terry. She took me to lunch and the bead store (Alaska Beads Company) and Seams Like Home. In between all those activity I found some time to read two short stories from Huraki Murakami's book, three chapters of Michael Chabon's book and three chapters from The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Tonight I went for a Movie Marathon with three movies. Pretty easy and careless movies: 27 Dresses, No Reservations and Martian Child. Pretty cute all around on the surface. I had seen the German movie "Mostly Martha" that was done before the American version "No Reservations. This one is simplified a lot. A real hollywood remake not much to think about.
Time to sleep... I am starting "The Medicine Woman" tomorrow, the title of my work. I got some really cute mini bottles for it today at the bead shop. Can't wait to get started.

ROBIN DES BOIS/ ROBINHOOD

There is something in my house that Robin wants. He appeared about a month ago and has decided to take down the window in the kitchen. He sits on the railing and flies into the glass panel over and over again. I say fly but he hops into it. He goes beak first and then splat on the transparent surface. What to do...? Well I have tried removing anything colorful and shiny on the inside. I have cut out of silhouette of a very menacing bird of prey and hang it at the window. I have bought a hanging basket full of geranium and placed it on the balcony. I have talked to him. I left the door open so he could come in and help himself. I have sent my ferocious Gaia (who by the way likes to stop and smell the Basil once in a while). To no avail. He comes back and I don't get his message. So I have decided that he might have hit the glass once to many times and that it has affected his brain tragically. (this picture shows how many times he hit the glass since we washed the window again... two days ago!!!!!!) He might also have a suicide wish or it might just be fun to him. He might be addicted to banging windows. Hard to say. I wish him well.