| Warm Temperatures and Sunny Days |
March 7, 2010 |
Good morning, It's been a while since I posted a message. Life got in the way, and it seemed I had nothing new to say. Yesterday it was a beautiful day here in Calgary, so I got in my car and drove to Canmore. I hadn't been there in a while, so I enjoyed the drive. I am always amazed at how beautiful the mountains looked, capped in snow, when you reach the top of the hill and look down at the valley. I had a very nice day, walking around town; did some shopping (of course), went to my favorite stores: the used book store - I came out with 8 new paperbacks and a lovely old book on Favorite Quotations. Then of course I had to stop at the Sugar Pine. I had a gift certificate, which made me shop in earnest! I bought some fabric, some paints, some ribbon, some thread. I had a lovely time, picking things just because I liked them, without really knowing what I was going to do with most of them. More for my stash! Yeah ... I left the bag in the car and went for a walk again along the main street. The sun was shining on the one side of the street, and it was quite warm. It was getting time for me to drive home again, as I thought that Ale was going to come home for dinner ... so I got a coffee for the drive home, and headed back to the car. I looked up at the mountains, so close, so majestic ... there wasn't a cloud in sight and the sky was bright blue against the white of the snow and the brown/gray of the Rocky Mountains. What an amazing sight! And I thought to myself how lucky I am to live in a place like this, to have the freedom to move around without constraints. And I realized how many moments we'll miss in the busy days ahead, and how many are gone in the ones we left behind. Life is fleeting. This was brought to mind this past week when I heard about the earthquake in Chile. After the initial shock, I tried to get a hold of my family over there. I talked to my sister Andrea on Sunday finally, and found out that both my nieces are fine, despite the fear and the shock, and that my aunt, cousins, second cousins, etc. are all in good health. No damage was done to their property for the most part. One of my nieces who lives on an 8th floor apartment lost quite a few things as they all fell on the floor and smashed, including TVs, vases, etc. But ... in the aftermath, once the shock is over, you get around to thanking God that everybody is alright, and realize that the material things can be replaced, but life cannot. I can't help but feel for all the people who lost loved ones and who are still dealing with the aftermath. So today, I am going to be thankful for what I have, which despite it all, it's pretty good, and I am going to lift my eyes to the sky and make a solemn promise to myself to focus on the positive, on all we have and all the possibilities ahead. And now, I am going to get back to work and do something creative. So ... to all of you out there, I wish you a sunny and warm day full of possibilities. And, until I blog again, keep quilting. Ana
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| Felted Soap |
January 22, 2010 |
Good evening, When I was in Houston in October, my friend Marcela took me shopping to a very nice store (new to me) called Anthropologie (since then I have found out that they have opened a store in the West Edmonton Mall). I loved everything in it, and I managed to purchase a few things. One of the things I brought back was a felted soap, which I thought I would put in Sabrina's stocking. Of course I forgot, and remembered about it after she had left to go back to University. When I packed the tuffet, I placed the soap in a corner. She called me a couple of days later to tell me she had loved it, and that it smelled great! Tonight, I was looking at some of my favorite blogs and found that Judy Coates Perez has posted instructions on how to make felted soap. Quite simple and easy to follow. I think I will make some! I believe I have enough roving to cover about a million bars of soap! If you'd like to see her tutorial, go to her website at http://judyperez.blogspot.com and scroll down to the December 20th entry. Let me know how they turn out. In the meantime, I will go and put more ice on my face (I had my wisdom teeth removed yesterday), go watch a movie in bed, or read for a while. Have a good evening. And, until I blog again, keep quilting. Ana
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January 10, 2010 |
Good morning from Calgary once again,  We woke up today to sunny clear skies and "warm" temperatures (about 5 degrees Celsius as a high today - everything is relative!) and they are supposed to stay around that for the next couple of days, which is a nice change from the 20 days or so we've had of very cold temperatures. Yesterday it was our first meeting of the 2010 at the Flying Needle Quilt Guild in Millarville. I had a lovely drive out there early in the morning, with good music playing on the radio, and a fresh cup of coffee from Starbucks; my car was stuffed with all I would need to teach the Workshop that day: Introduction to Fabric Painting. You can see the image to the left. That's the finished project. The project took longer than I had anticipated, so they didn't get to quilt it, but most of them who could stay until the end of the afternoon got it finished, and even stamped, as you will be able to see by the photos I have attached below. We started the day as usual with our show and tell and our short business meeting, with all the news about the next workshop in May. Beth did a really good job of introducing Weeks and Bill and telling us about the classes they will offer in March when they come. They sound very exciting. We are going to have a trunk show on Friday evening, March 12th I believe it is, which is open to everyone. So, among all the sewing and creative stuff we will be doing, we need to think about taking out the pots and pans and baking something yummy to share with the attendees.   Back to the workshop. Here you can see Carol hard at work and Pat and Patsy too. We started working on the leaves, and once those were finished, then they went on to work on the pear. The thing with Calgary's climate is that everything dries very quickly, so the important thing about the paint is to achieve the right consistency so it would stay wet while blending, and not to add too much paint because then it gets difficult to work with. It's a balancing act! I kept saying too them, "too much paint", "not enough paint" (you could see the fabric still); "too much water", "not enough water". I believe that by the end of the day some of them wanted to hit me with their brushes over the head! LOL  And this is me, with my ugly painting apron. I bought it ages and ages ago. It had been a class sample and I never liked it, so I never thought I could give it to anyone else either! One day I was going to do some painting and was looking for my old painting apron and found this one, and decided it was perfect for my needs. It covers my clothes nicely and then if I need to clean my brushes I can do it right there without worrying about getting the fabric dirty. I feel that in time the apron might actually look pretty nice with all those paint blotches across the front! And below, you can see some of the finished art work, ready to be heat set and quilted. Ladies, you all did great! Congratulations! Looking forward to seeing them all quilted in February!   
Now I am off to create an apple painting for a Workshop at Valerie's in May! And ... until I blog again ... keep quilting, or painting, or ... Ana
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| 1st Day of 2010 |
January 1, 2010 |
Happy New Year and best wishes for 2010. The New Year has started and with it a new decade. My start was quite different this time around. I spent New Year's Eve on my own,. Woke up at 12:01 when the neighbors lighted some fireworks. Went back to bed, and woke up really early to pick Sabrina up at her friend's and take her to the airport. She left for Vancouver today, on her way back to Victoria and her studies. I miss her already. It was great to have her home for the past two weeks. What a treat that was! I had her to myself for two whole weeks! Today found me taking a step in the right direction. Clearing out the old to make room for the new.. I cleaned my closet! ... and got rid of all the things that haven't worn in ages and ages. Despite some nostalgic moments when looking at some of the clothes, I decided to give them away. Somebody else will enjoy them now. I also cut fabric to make a new quilt. and planned a few projects for 2010, set up a few goals ... Talking about goals, Lesley Riley sent out this link on Setting Long Term Goals: check it out. It's quite interesting. http://affluentartist.com/setting-long-term-goals/. As my sister said: Thanking all the messages about peace, happiness and good will, I highlight the ones that have been written with true feeling, the ones from the heart, the ones that have made me cry with true emotion; the ones from here and there; all of those messages that both you and I know come from really great people. I send you best wishes again, in the hopes that by reiterating the same, they will become reality. I hope every one of you receives it in the form of a hug, a really tight one, those that are felt, no matter how far away we are, and those that remain in our thoughts and our hearts. To all my friends out there, all the best for the new decade. May 2010 find us creating pieces that feed our souls. And until I blog again ... keep quilting. Ana
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| Merry Christmas to All! |
December 30, 2009 |
 Merry Christmas from Calgary! This is the view from my window on Christmas Day, early in the morning. We had a wonderful time. The three kids were home on Christmas Eve, they came early to help cook and prepare for the evening. I picked Sabrina up at her friend's at 10:00 a.m. and we went to get the turkey. It was a big one this year! I think it is the biggest one I have cooked so far ... 26 lbs! It was so big that it wouldn't fit the roasting pan I had at home, so I had to run out and visit a couple of supermarkets to pick up two where it would fit. Once home, I prepared the bird, put it in the oven, and left to pick up Sebastian, take him to the University (to pick up his books) and bring him home. He needed to finish writing an essay to send that evening. And finally the 3 kids were home again! It was so wonderful to have them all at home again ...
Ale had prepared Gravlax for brunch on the 25th, but we couldn't wait and so we had some sliced and prepared as an appetizer on the 24th, before the turkey dinner. Silvia, Guillermo and my two nieces, Carolina and Daniela, and our friends John, Robin and their children, Lauren and Gregory joined us for dinner.  We had drinks and gravlax while I finished putting the last touches on dinner. The Gravlax (cured salmon, as opposed to smoked) was so successful, it was gone in no time! Everyone loved it! Finally, the turkey was ready, gravy, caramelized yams, Caprese salad, and Duchesne potatoes made by Ale. Everything was delicious! We had a great time. The table looked beautiful; we laughed, talked and caught up on news of the last few months.
After midnight, we opened gifts for and from those present. The kids received lovely Vancouver 2010 blankets, gift certificates, and other stuff. Everybody left around 1:30 a.m. We finished cleaning the kitchen, loaded the dishwasher, and got everything cleaned and in order for brunch the next morning. Finally, at 2:15 a.m. we all headed to bed, planning on "meeting" again at 11:00 a.m. to see what Santa had brought.
The follo  wing morning dawned bright, white and sunny. A photo of the view from the window is above. With that view, I brought up the presents and put them under the three. It was about 8:00 a.m. and I was tiptoeing around so I wouldn't wake anyone up. I had been working hard for about 6-8 weeks previous making tuffets for the kids. Each one would have one. I thought they would look lovely under the Christmas tree with the presents piled un on top.
Sebastian's is purple, to match the curtains I finally made for his bedroom, which were also wrapped in a box and under the tree, along with The Beatles Remastered.
Ale's is black and white, with a red button and red legs. He had his new knife on top, as well as other things he had asked for. Sabrina's is multicolored; every fabric used has polka dots, and each leg is a different color: one pink, one yellow, one blue and one green. She had the watch she had wanted from La Mer on top, as well as a couple of books, and other fun stuff. Below is a photo of each of the tuffets. Aren't they fun? As soon as I saw them at Out of Hand I knew I had to make them. The pattern is by Myra, and it's called "The Tuffet". It is 18" in diameter. This is Sebastian's; the fabric was purchased in a sari store in NE Calgary.
This black and white with red legs is Ale's:  And the multicolored one, with polka-dotted fabric is Sabrina's: And here are the kids (I keep calling them "kids" because that's what they are to me LOL, but, as you can see ... they are young adults already. How time flies!!).  I had promised to post photos of the tuffets after Christmas. Hope you have had a lovely Christmas with your loved ones. I wish you all a Happy New Year, and all the best for 2010. And until I blog again, keep quilting! Ana
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| Making progress |
December 10, 2009 |
OK, let's see if this works better. I have uploaded the images first, and will type in between! I have been working on the yellow tulips that are painted on the quilted background I showed you on the last blog. Once that was done and prepared, I marked the tulips on the background using a water soluble blue pen, very lightly, as I am always terrified that it's not going to come off. So remember, take a few minutes and try the marking pen or pencil you are planning on using on a sample first, to see if it will come off, or on the back of the quilt, just where you are going to place the label. In that case, if the blue line (or any other color) doesn't wash off, you will be able to cover it. Below is a photo of my palette, and a very messy piece of paper towel. I decided to use acrylic paint with fabric medium. I had purchased a box of 24 Liquitex Basic Acrylics to try them, so that's what I am using at this time, combined with GAC 900. GAC 900 is a Golden Medium, by Golden Products. The label reads "A 100% acrylic dispenser polymer heat-setting medium for modifying acrylic paints applied to clothing. Suitable for brushing, airbrushing or screen-printing. Provides a soft-hand and increased launderability." You can read more if you go to the Golden website at www.goldenpaints.com; it has extensive technical information on GAC 900 I mixed GAC 900 about 1:1 with the acrylic paint. I used it sparingly, both the paint and the medium. I really just mixed it in the brush, unless I needed a large quantity of paint in which case I mixed it all at once. I used a palette of Cadmium Yellow Medium Hue, Cadmiuim Red Light Hue, Cadmium Orange Hue, Titanium White, Raw Sienna and Raw Umber for the flowers. Below is the first four petals I painted; I started with the one on the right, went to the one on the left, the middle one and the one behind on top was last. This was just about the first pass. When you look at photos later on, you will realize how different they look. I have adjusted and adjusted the color and the lights and shadows until I got the result I wanted. I am glad nobody can tell how many times my brush found its way to certain parts of the flower! Once that first flower was completed, I decided to add a bud, so I drew it lightly in and started to block the colors in. I was called on the phone, so by the time I came back the paint had dried, which makes it a bit more difficult to blend. But in the end, you can't tell. So the photo below shows the first flower and the bud. There is still one more petal to be painted on this tulip.  On another note, I bought a bread machine the other day from a gentleman at the office, so now that I have blogged a bit, I'm going to the kitchen to put all the ingredients in the bread maker. I purchased all the gluten free flours I could find (I couldn't find millet flour), so off I go to mix them and turn the machine on. I'll let you know how it turned out tomorrow. Keeping my fingers crossed that the results will be edible! So good night to you all; and until I blog again, keep quilting. Ana
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| The quilting is finished |
December 4, 2009 |
Good morning, It's early here on this Friday morning. I have a day off work, which is always nice and am getting ready to go out and do some shopping, hopefully before the snow storm hits. But ... I have a few minutes before I leave, so I thought I'd post some photos of the piece I just finished quilting. The quilting alone took me more than 75 hours. The piece is about 42" x 44". It has been prepared so I can paint on it once it is bound and painted. I'll explain as I go.  Unfortunately you can't see too much from the photo. The base is made of 5 pieces of fabric of "unknown fiber content". Which means that I bought them because I liked them but have no idea of what they are. The three center pieces are samples of upholstery fabric and the other two are remnants that I purchase at Chintz & Co. in Calgary. They sell the upholstery fabric samples and remnants at 50% off and you usually get really nice deals on silks, and unusual fabrics. In this case, the fiber content didn't matter. Below I have posted a detail of the tight quilting so you can see a close-up:
 And now a close up of one of the feathers that I designed myself.  I just looked out the window. It's starting to snow quite heavily. So I am going to venture out and see how much I get done before the weather and driving conditions send hurrying back inside.
I will post more photos during the weekend. And until I blog again, keep quilting. Ana
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