I’ve been playing with these for a while and am currently having what I call a “finishing” session in the studio.It’s 8 years this weekend since we arrive in the US and 4 since we moved into the house.Julie and I painted the studio.
These cards are catchers of explored techniques and experimental .They will need mailing in envelopes I think to be callous.
Yep we’ve just had our first foggy morning.Today is going to be hot around 80’s.I’m not a heat fan so I’ll be sewing in the cool light of my studio.I’m working on the Row by Row piece.Beading the border is fun but slow about an inch and a half per sitting.
We discussed how long to sew for for when I was in class at the UW. I chatted to Mum about it yesterday ( yes she’s doing much better) We concluded its’ not speed but the enjoyment of adding the stitches to a piece.So over the course of the day I’ll be embroidering Eagles and crows along the top border of this piece.
Braided River boundary.Attachment every 3 beads black silk over wire 3 strand.
Sometimes when I write I feel just like I’m talking to the wall.I saw the play the Italian Straw Hat with Tom Conti as the lead, way back in the day.My first ever vodka at lunch time led me to heckle Tom.It was a lovely matinee all the better for that tiny tipple.
So as I type listening to Jools Holland bang away on Alexa I’m reminded of just how hard it is.My body chemistry is undergoing a change which is just so hard.Anyway I’ll take advantage of the energy while being mindful of the Mania.
Still working on the Row by Row piece it’s coming along if slowly but I have all to complete it.
Yes those are Spencer -Wells ( no pun intended) I use clamps when I work wire.Always have and always will.
This would tour Sunrise Rd
Yes another Blip in the road has taken me off line for two weeks.I have new meds and keeping the same doctors so hopefully the balance will be back.
This weekend was awesome.The old man and I went to Seafair on Saturday.Sat in the cheap seats and enjoyed the show with the crowd.Sad event for the pilots as they had lost their captain earlier in the season but they did him proud and the Young Master got to see the Hogs -A10’s while we worked our way though the buses to get back home for dinner.
Sunday we all slept-ed back up to Sourdough ridge.Yes it rained but no lightening this time.Just heavy mist and light showers.Burger for the boy and rice cakes for the grown -ups.
Bare Naked Ladies were in town this weekend and I was spoilt with tickets in Millionaires row .Jigging around singing “if I had a million dollars” in the fancy seats in Marymoor park is a sweet irony. Loved the Redmond Pedicure routine.
However they also dragged some ageing Brits Howard Jones ( so fit and sounded so good-also loved by fans) and OMD. Oh my gosh someone may not have been feeling good what a performance-true trooper.Great set .
BNL joked about their food work ( which I must source to share with Mrs Stanley) Music to encourage kids to eat their veggies. I would not worry about new stuff for someone who’s music is the sound track to my life all sort of synapses where tweaking. I’ve always said music is life’s blood.
Mr Howard Jones Mary Moor Park WA
I’m actually going to add this as a category to my blog.I really enjoy getting random mail from people.I takes me quite a long time to write the postcards and with out a spellchecker some of them get pretty random.This weeks batch to send included a gentlemen in The Netherlands that likes to make his own emboss and stitched card.So I made this card only to realize he had asked for natural landscapes.So for the first time in my postcrossing experience I’ve sent him two cards !
Driftwood sculpture featuring found fishing line
We have many hanging pieces around the house a memory from our previous rental that had great open beams.
This small hanging wooden piece features drift wood from a private beach ,glass beads from one of the many stores on Homer Spit road and found fishing line.
Abandoned fishing line is a huge problem in Alaska. Everywhere we went on beaches we found discarded lines.The beach in Homer also had the biggest number of dead birds I have come across.So I brought some home to make pieces to high-light this issue.
We recently went for an evening stroll at our local lake and found containers to encourage people to dispose of fishing line and hooks.A single but effective box seemed to solve the problem.
Since I have been journaling as we travel I have found new favorite techniques.I like to create small 6×4 watercolor books.This trip I took a small book of strathmore postcards.We have many supplies hanging around the house but I like to “borrow” hubby’s newton watercolors that he took to Nepal.He also has a nice set of water soluble graphite pencils which I have completely fallen for.I think my fav piece is this image for the hills above Seward-completed at a picnic table in front of the van.
So the vacation was fun and as ever I have been collecting along the way.Wet afternoons , fabric stores and beach side camping have meant much ephemera collecting.I’ll be making a couple of hangings and a new mermaid.Strangely I had a very weak moment in a quilt store and brought a Row by Row kit.One of the pieces was not to my taste so I brought a substitute piece.When we got back to the van and unwrapped it a beautiful triptych was revealed.I’ll probably work these pieces into a lap quilt.
Fishing hole Homer Spit Alaska including high glaciers
I also want to work on something around a braided river theme.We saw many of these coming from glaciers.I find these beautiful fascinating and ultimately really sad.Global warming means my grandchildren may not experience glaciers as we do so I’d like to capture something of their essence.
Yep it’s back to the studio and this unfinished piece.Had a bit of a disaster with the gluing.I used a PVA designed for bookbinding and not my regular white glue or new wallpaper paste.It’s a tactile nightmare all rubbery and uncomfortable.Happily I brought a tiny amount of white fabric in Seward so I’ll back it and stitch over it.
I just need to work in the dragonfly and it will be set.
