Apparently--

my announcement of the arrival of winter was premature. We did have snow, it melted quickly, and then all week we've had gorgeous 60's and 70 degree days. I can't remember the last year we had such a long fall. And, we're getting more of the same this week. Works for me!!

First, the quilty content. I got my rock art piece sandwiched and all ready to go- with a BLACK batt. I learned my lesson with the 'Watchers' piece. It was worth the hunt, we'll see how it quilts.



I also pulled out my Caran d'Ache water soluble pastels, and got a small piece for framing well on its way. But, since it is a Christmas present, no pictures- don't want to spoil the surprise.

I also got a great gift from my daughter-in-law, Marly, who makes jewelry. I love the beaded necklace and earrings, they will get plenty of wear.



I now completely understand what my mother meant when she talked about seeing a stranger when she looked in the mirror. I look at this and think, "Where did that young woman I am go?"

With the weather as gorgeous as it has been, Sadie and I went for a hike yesterday. There's a place not too far up Spanish Fork Canyon where a major mudslide took place about 25 years ago. It took out railroad tracks, and cut off the main highway between eastern Utah and the Wasatch Front for months, until a new road could be built. After all this time, the scar on the land is still very visible. We'd found a place to access this a couple of weeks ago, so off Sadie and I went.

It was a good, uphill hike- the terrain is uneven, and I was following horse tracks that were laid in mud and dried- so I had to watch my steps. But I got quite a ways up! Here's the view from the highest point we reached--



If you click on the picture, you might be able to see a tiny black dot under the large rock escarpment on the right side of the picture. That's the view area, where they have a history of the slide and its aftermath.

You can see in this how uneven the ground is. Sadie loved being able to run around, and I love it when she wears herself out.



I loved the way this tree is leaning. Not a surprise, the wind is a regular feature in this canyon.



And here's the view looking up the mountains. There are two really obvious slide areas, this is the closest. The next one is over another hill on the left.



After we came back down, I drove the short distance to the view area I mentioned earlier. This is the view from there, looking towards where we hiked- under the slide area on the right.


If it doesn't look like it was an uphill hike, I think it's because the viewpoint and where we got to are a similar elevation. Where I parked and we started hiking was well below the viewpoint!!

And here's a photo for you, Shannon- just to show which animal rules the roost at home. No, that is NOT Sadie in the bed, that is Annabella the cat. But Sadie won't push her off the bed, she just sighs and lays down next to it. I had a good laugh, and had to get this with the camera. Priceless!

Winter is here. . .

Well, we had our first real snowfall last night- woke up to an inch or two on the grass. We may have a few more days of Indian Summer, but not many.

I dyed the cotton sateen I bought a couple of weeks ago from Hancock's. It takes the dye beautifully, and I am thrilled to have another option for fabric dyeing. I love the sheen that the sateen has! I did drip pole dyeing, as Robbi Joy Ecklow describes in her book. Here's the three finished pieces- folded, you really can't see all the variations on each piece.


I did one all blue, with turquoise and three other blue colors, all single shade dyes. I got good color value variation- I often forget I need lights, I love intense color so much. The other blue piece has the same blues, but I also squirted some gray on it, to get some toned colors. Not a lot of difference, except I have the dreaded red dye pops in the gray areas. They are beginning to drive me nuts, and nothing I have tried to dissolve red dye has worked well.

The yellow piece is two shades of yellow- Dharma's lemon yellow, and bright yellow. Then I squirted gray on- I've gotten some fantastic greens with this color combination. Got those, and also lots of red dye pops- although in this case, I think they look kind of cool.

The last one is the four blue colors, then lemon yellow squirted on over them It has some lovely gradations to greens, depending on the blue it is over. Interestingly, I often wonder how I will bear to cut my hand-dyes- but this one is crying to be cut, it has some many color variations across the piece.

DJ and I went to Price to visit friends yesterday. On the way back, we stopped at a little graveyard on the west side of Spanish Fork Canyon. You would be hard pressed to believe the area had a thriving community back in the 1930's, but that is what the information there said. Now it's just a sad little monument to a community that has long since ceased to exist.


Here's one sign you don't see often! We weren't too worried, it was cold and snowy.



And, a reminder that life was often short.



We're off to Ikea this afternoon, I'm putting up a couple more shelves in the studio. I've been amazed at how the de-cluttering and rearranging has opened the space for me and energized me.

Cleaning out the Clutter. . .

I had some friends over Friday to do some discharging, so I had to clean up and rearrange so all of us could fit in my wet studio. It inspired me to keep going with rearranging, and it's starting to feel more open and less cluttered- both of which I think will help my creative juices.

Here's the wet studio after the cleanup. I moved the ironing board for laundry upstairs, and got an over the door ironing board for the studio. That meant I could move my drawers of paint supplies away from my table, which will make it easier to move in the room. Just getting rid of the ironing board opened it up! You can see two of the discharge pieces hanging on the left side of the design wall.



Then I moved into the sewing studio. I moved my big bookcase into the family room next door, and put a smaller bookcase in its place. I freecycled a five year collection of QNM that I don't use anymore. I found the black felt in one of my drawers, and will use it to display my collection of fiber postcards. The Dali postcards I got in Florida this summer are now on my bulletin board.



The only part I have left is the closet, but that will have to wait until later this week.

My watercolor class finished this weekend, and Saturday was the Harvest Moon Hurrah in Spanish Fork. They had a display of the visual art classes work among the events. We had Jaden Saturday night, and took him down. No pony rides, no picture with the scarecrow- all he wanted was a balloon toy that Sweetheart the clown was making. And, it was cold and wet, so we didn't stay very long. But I did get pictures of the art display, especially my favorites! Mine is the yellow daisies in the first picture, the only painting out of the class I'm willing to show the public!







I'm still auditioning fabric for the borders of the autumn colored quilt. I've got an idea, now just to figure out the logistics. And, I'm hoping to finish the whole thing from my stash. That will be a first!!

Opening Night!



Friday, Oct. 5 was the opening reception for the show that Utah Surface Design Group has at the Covey Center for the Arts in Provo. Not that I am that experienced at this, but I thought it went great! We had people in the gallery until we closed at 9 pm- including some that were obviously art students from either BYU or UVSC. Most of our membership lives in Salt Lake, but several made it down for the show- despite awful traffic. Me, I stayed the entire time, just loving the experience. Everything looked wonderful up, and it was nice how a group with such divergent styles could still put together a cohesive show. We had everything from woven items to art quilts to a ribbon weaving with light effects.

Here's DJ looking at the two pieces closest to the entrance.



The blue hanging on his left is by Chris Bramhall- it's screenprinted, and then stitched, and includes both cotton and silk. On his right is a handmade paper collage by Aubrey Anderson. She had three pieces in the show, each of them of a different fantasy persona that she has dreamed up. The detail on her pieces is incredible.

The three pieces that are hanging from the ceiling are all by Patti Pitts, who is in the middle of a year long study with Jane Dunnewold. The two front are complex cloth, the one furthest in the back also includes some applique and stitching. I'm just hoping to pick up a little bit of what she is learning by osmosis!

Even thought I've posted this before, I can't leave out a picture of me with one of my pieces.



Here's hoping this is just the first of many opening nights!!