I'm off to Penland

Tomorrow morning I'm leaving to go to Penland for a two week workshop. For years I have heard what a wonderful place it is to go and be immersed in art making. I'll fly into Asheville N.C and spend the night with friends, then head out for Penland, a 1 1/2 hour drive. I'm taking a workshop in a medium that is new for me. Quilting. This workshop is lead by Sherri Lynn Wood and focuses on Improvisational Quiltmaking. It's called Mapping the Rhythm of Attention. I'm sure I'll have lots to show and report when I get back on July. Until then.....

Sherri Lynn Wood, Color Study: Red

Wedge, quilt: hand-dyed cotton, glass

beads, machine- and hand-pieced,

hand-quilted, 52 x 68 in

Fleur Couture

The Fremont Solstice Parade was Saturday. Lana Sundburg and I along with three other friends made dresses from flowers and foliage. We were inspired by the Weedrobes made by Nicole Dextras. See her work here. Whole foods gave us bouquets of roses, gerbera daisies and sunflowers. We foraged for laurel and ivy to make the outfits green. Lana's sunny and beautiful yard was our workroom. A good time was had by all.
Here are a few pictures of the process and end results.

Our three young maidens get ready to walk in the Solstice parade

Roses hanging to dry

Sewing roses on the skirts with dental floss

Monica contemplates her form

Cory trimming roses

Flowers and tools

Lana models

Rose dress with blue parasol

Lana models daisy dress

Daisy models daisy dress

Ella in the laurel dress

Eye Candy in Fremont

Burnt Sugar store interior

Paper dress at Burnt Sugar

Burnt Sugar Chadelier

Light and Linen at Les Amis

I like to shop in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. There are several boutiques there I always visit. Les Amis has lovely and unique clothing, Burnt Sugar has shoes, purses, jewelry, perfumes and plain old cool stuff you won't be able to live without. Essenza is a shop filled with fragrances and scents of every kind. They all are well designed and a treat for the eyes.

India Flint: Inspiring Speaker at Confluence

I'm at the Surface Design Association conference, Confluence, and this morning India Flint was a speaker. She uses natural dyes from plants found on her walks and wanderings in Australia. Her work is astounding. Here's a sample.

Eucalyptus Prints from India Flint

She gave a wonderful talk and recited my favorite poem from Mary Oliver, The Summer Day.

The Summer Day

Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?

Heading out of town to Confluence: Surface Design Conference

I'm leaving town tomorrow for Chicago and then to Minneapolis for Confluence. It's a conference put on by the Surface Design Association and will be four days of fiber arts, craft, design, speakers and creative frenzy. I can't wait. More details to come.

Bellevue Festival of the Arts : Postcard

I just finished a poster and postcard for the Bellevue Festival of the Arts Artfair. Here's the postcard.