A Bojagi Day!

No, it's not my work!! This is a beautiful, transparent quilt made by Jill Ault from Ann Arbor. I was SO lucky today to go with my friend, Mary, to Jill's house for her to show us the 'Bojagi' technique! I wrote a post on Bojagi here and showed a small piece one of our fiber members was working on. Of course I had to get the book, Bojagi & Beyond by Chunghie Lee, and we jumped on Jill's invitation for her demo!

This is another one of Jill's transparent quilts she had on her design board. But if you really want to see some wonderful art work, in addition to Jill's transparent quilts, go to her web site. Jill is a true artist and works in several different media.

Jill started out showing the process using silk organza and the sewing machine! Who knew! I thought we'd be doing all hand stitching...not to say you couldn't but Jill showed us how to be careful and it wasn't all that difficult to stitch on the machine.

This is a piece that Jill sewed showing us how to stitch over all those layers. She didn't miss a step and made us feel like we could even make a 20 foot transparent quilt! OK, maybe just a 20 inch quilt! But I think we're able...although, I'll start out with a 10" or 12" block or maybe just some squares.

This was another piece I happened to notice on another design board Jill had. It was actually black silk organza and was beautiful!! Do you see the design in the background? Also, there are seed beads in each of the small corners. Click on the picture to see the piece up close!

And this is the back of the piece above. Jill also does shibori and she bleach/resist the design! I love this piece!! I know, you're thinking it must have been the beads!

There is something about the process and results from this technique that I am just so obsessed about. We're going to order some silk organza and yes, you can dye it. Jill said it picks up the colors beautifully. She showed us some of her shibori pieces and if you look closely at the multi colored piece in the 2nd picture you'll see some of the shibori pieces she dyed.

After our lesson, we went to Casey's Tavern for lunch! No margarita for me! But I did have a cherry pop! I haven't had cherry pop since I was in high school! Remember the good old days of cherry or chocolate coke? That's what the cherry pop reminded me of! Anyway, we had a really good lunch and I learned more about Jill. She's quite a talented lady and I'm so lucky Mary invited me on this journey! Now to get busy and finish a piece! Have to make our 'teacher' proud of us! But first, I have to watch our TIGERS play! It's 0 - 0 in the top of the 6th inning! A nail biter but at least I can work on my bead loom!

Congratuations!

1st a HUGE congrats to Amber for receiving 'Student of the Month' award at school this week!! She got two awards but the 2nd picture didn't turn out so clear. It did talk about her being a role model for other kids and her effort at achieving good grades, yada, yada! How proud we all are of her! And yes, I have blacked out her last name - you never know about folks on the Internet so I do try to protect the innocent!

And another congrats to my friend, Mary, on becoming a Great Grandma again! This is Stefi, big sister Carmella and new baby brother who was born yesterday! I'm sure the whole family is pretty excited about the new addition. Mary is a wonderful, great grandma and I'm sure she will enjoy this new addition.

Another beautiful day with a high of 75 and light winds again today. This is summer weather for me. It is suppose to get in the 80's this weekend and a few days next week but I'll settle for this type of weather.

I plan on working on my Art of the Kitchen piece today. Having problems with fraying on my background weaving..ugh. I ran out of Misty Fuse and ended up using WonderUnder lite which was a huge mistake. I started using Misty Fuse years ago before it became the fuse of choice and now I know why I've stuck with it so long. Plus, weaving the pieces of my background in and out and changing the weaving has caused some of the fraying. I should be able to 'clean' the edges up with machine stitching if I get to that point today.

I have to admit I am hooked on watching the trial of Casey Anthony. It's so sad and the trial keeps pulling on me to watch it. Fortunately, I have a TV in my sewing room, so I can listen to it. It's almost like reading or listening to a fiction novel and not a very good one! But one you keep reading just to find out how the 'book' ends!

Speaking of books...I just finished listening to The Lincoln Lawyer and the reader was great! His name is Adam Grupper and he made the book twice as good even though the story was really good on its own. I am going to look up Adam and see what other books he has done the reading on.

I have eleven books on my IPod and just started listening to Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys. Can't remember where I saw or heard about this book and I just hope it's not depressing! I'm more of a mystery, thriller or biography person! Gotta run! Trial has started!

Good Bye Friends!

Can you tell we started off the evening happy! This is my friend Susan and her husband, Harvey! They'll be headed to Michigan the middle or end of May!

We started the evening off with margarita'a at Verna and Ron's house. It was so nice of Verna to invite everyone over as four of the eight couples are headed back up north by the end of May. It was our last get together for 2011! Verna makes the best margarita! And fed us chips and dip too!

Yes, margarita's are my favorite drink! Verna made her own mix which is REALLY good. I might just give up buying a mix and make up my own. Verna was gracious enough to give me the recipe! As a hostess gift, I made Verna a needle case but guess what! I forgot to take a picture! go figure! I used a metallic green and orange in a honey comb pattern (Beth Muerr's pattern, of course!).

Tony was our DD for the night, driving us around! Larry and Jan rode with us as well. Thanks, Tony!! You were a good DD!!

And yes, Larry got into trouble as usual! It's a story I won't go into but it consisted of a rock and a toe! 'Nuff said! I did have my Polaroid printer with me so I printed out the picture on the right to give to Jan and Larry! Yes, you had to be there!!















Next we headed off to another great Mexican Restaurant, El Azteca!

They even have a mariachi band playing through dinner!!



















Here are Verna and Ron our hostess and host for the evening! THANK you both for arranging the evening and having us all over!! That was SO nice of them and another evening Bob and I will remember!
This is Jan and Mac! Jan is a wonderful knitter and Mac is a really good golfer! Bob got to golf with him this week and he was really impressed! They too are headed to Michigan this coming Monday!
This is John and Marilyn who always host the St. Patrick's day dinner for 20+ at their house each year. Bob never stops talking about Marilyn's corn beef and cabbage!
This is Pat and Pat!! Yes, it gets confusing but most folks call Pat, Patricia! They are both golfers and I see Patricia walking (fast too by the way!) in addition to her golfing!
This is Carol and our DD for the night, Tony..they too will be leaving Ocala the end of June to spend the summer in Michigan. Bob got to golf lots with Tony this year, which made him quite happy. Tony's a really good golfer and Carol is my shopping buddy! We all had a great time this year! And Carol and I are now "Chico's girls!"..another story!
And this is our landlord(s)! Larry and Jan! Aren't they the sweetest looking couple! Larry and Jan have always made us feel like we are like family. We're going to miss them dearly.

We are so lucky to call each of these couples friends! Just the best folks around and we will miss each of them! But! we'll be back next winter if the 'big guy' above says it's ok!!

This was the Chicken Nacho Bob and I split! It was the best Nacho we've every had. They had cooked onion and peppers along with Fiata chicken on top and so delicious!
Harvey got his meal first and dug right in! El Azetca has such great food I wouldn't wait either!
Verna and Ron dug in as well. Just great food!! What more can I say!


Yes, this is my empty glass...now to watch boob tube, off to bed the up and at it in the a.m. We'll finish packing clothes, do more laundry, take bird cages apart, then off to our last dinner in Ocala. We're meeting Carol, Tony, Peggy and Sammy for one last evening with friends in 2011!

Food, Friends and Fun!

Friday night was a WONDERFUL night at Jan and Larry's! Carol, Tony, Bob and I headed off early yesterday afternoon looking forward to a great dinner. Let me tell you we were NOT disappointed!! First, check out the napkin Jan gave us! Just way too funny! You have to read the writing to see what the letters stand for.

Our evening started out with drinks and appetizer's of shrimp with cocktail sauce, baked brie and fruit. Wonderful..so good.
Next, Jan made Bang, Bang Shrimp! OMG Bang, Bang shrimp is a dish made at Fish Bones or is it Bone Fish restaurant..either way, Jan has a recipe for it which is awesome!!! You fry shrimp using a coating or flour/cornstarch, egg dip then after it's fried you toss in this spicy Asian sauce and serve on romaine lettuce! Needless to say after all of this food we felt like we already had our dinner! But no, the main course was on it's way!

This is our beautiful hostess, Jan, getting ready to cook up the Bang, Bang Shrimp.


and these are Larry's hands holding up the crab legs he was preparing for us! I think he said he had eight pounds of crab legs!! Eight!!!
This is the bang, bang shrimp! The best ever!
Of course the guys had to watch the Master's as they ate! Tony is on the left, Larry in the middle and my better half with eyes glued to the set is on the right! The guys did take time out to fill their plates with food!
This was our place settings which Jan had decorated so cute! Lots of sea shells and candles!
Jan's centerpiece! Just a fun and colorful table setting! So inviting!
Yes, this was my plate and of course I ate it all!! I can't believe I did! In addition to the crab legs, Jan made home made cole slaw, biscuits, baked potato wedges and Larry made deep fried shrimp. Do you think we had enough to eat! It was ALL so good!! But wait..we aren't finished yet!
Dessert consisted of pecan squares that Jan made and they are to die for (of course, there had to be a scoop of pecan ice cream). Yummy!
And we had favors of M&M's and other chocolate to take home!

We had such a wonderful time with our friends and can't thank Jan and Larry enough for a great evening of food, friends and fun! I think I need to ride my bike for 20 miles a day for 20 days! But it was worth it! I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

The tree is up

The tree is up....

The fireplace is on...

Now just waiting for friends to sit and enjoy each others company!

Our annual CCC Fiber group Christmas Party is today. I'm all ready and just sitting here with the dogs (Cody came over to visit for an hour or two). This is our last get-together for the year so it's always a relaxing time with food, drink, conversation and of course show & tell! We also have a yearly challenge and this year is no different. The challenge is to make an art piece based on a poem. I know there are going to be lots of different techniques and I can't wait to see what everyone did. I'll post pics tomorrow before the Lions play of course!
And, yes, those are golf clubs beside the fireplace. Our downstairs family room is decorated in golf items Bob has collected over the years. Those particular clubs in the picture are quite old and I believe are made of wood. I leave a lot of the golf items up as that's our room and I don't mind mixing Christmas with our hobbies. Heck, my quilts are hung all over the house!

Waking up is hard to do!

Our friends from Florida sent this link which is SO cute!!! Thanks, Larry! The lyrics alone are SO funny but the Dr's. can really sing!! Enjoy!!

More gifts

Gifts come in many forms, don't they. Yesterday I met my friend, Mary, at the Farmer's Market in Grand Blanc. This seems to be a weekly event for us, unless the weather is extremely bad! I'm a fair weather farmer's market gal! This pic just shows some of my 'buys' from that trip. Drizzles of rain were starting to fall along with the wind yesterday so our marketing was quick. I also picked up a great cherry pie for Bob and I..yum..I made roasted Leek potato soup that our friend Carol T. put us onto (hence, my leeks aren't in the picture - at this point they were in the oven!) and a Massaged (yep, that's right!) Kale and Mango salad that Mary gave me. Surprisingly, this salad was really good. Bob loved the meal but now he wants my 'famous' cheese chowder soup, which I haven't made in so long..wonder why? Lots of fat! Maybe when Bob's surgery is over I'll treat him.
So another gift I had was watching Nick's flag football game on Sat. Time with family is a gift we take for granted. Must be a 'getting to be old' thing, nevertheless, I feel it's a gift.
Nick and his team were also given a gift by Mike Lodish a fromer NFL player who came to talk to the kids and show them one of his two Super Bowl rings! This might not mean much to the kids today but years from now one of them will remember this visit.

This is Nick's team (Nick is 2nd from the right of Mike).

Nick is on the far right in the back. The little guy up front holding the football in front of Nick is so cute. His mom says he sleeps, eats and lives for sports. He wakes up in the a.m. asking where his mouth guard is! What a hoot these little ones are!
Now for a few more gifts!! These are two gifts I won via the blog! You can read Susan's post here on this giveaway. This is a pair of Gingher scissors I won from Susan Brubaker Knapp's, Blue Moon River Blog. Susan wrote the book Applique Petal Party and of course is well known in the quilting world. Thanks, Susan!!
So my next gift is from Kate at Kate Boyan's Gallery. This is Kate's book, The Blue Bead.

I've posted about Kate and this same book talking about her beautiful bead work. I purchased this book a few months ago and read it to the kids when we had 'date night'. The kids loved the story and were even intrigued by the beading. Kate created a beaded piece for each journal page in the book and her pieces are spectacular. One of Nick's comments were "grandma, it probably took that lady a day to make one of these" (referring to one of the beaded pieces). I told Nick I'm sure it took her more than a day! The story is about a bead given as a gift and its travel from years ago to the present day gift. This is a really nice book for both the story and the eye candy. So thanks, Kate!!! This will make a nice gift for me to give! Kate was so kind she actually gave each of us a copy that entered a comment!! How sweet is that! I did make a fiber postcard thank you and mailed to Kate. Make sure you check out Kate's beading!

Doodles and what not

My friends Mary and Carol T. were in Charlevoix, Michigan last week to pick up the quilts from the MQAI Italy exhibit that has been traveling for the past two years. In between, drinking, eating and being tourist, they played with making watercolor postcards which they sent to me. The one on the right is from Mary and the one below was made by Carol. Aren't they cool!











I'm going to keep them with my fiber art postcards and ATC's. I think they both did a great job!









Not sure if I've shown on my blog the quilts I made for the Italy exhibit in 2008. I made a thread drawing of Leonardo DaVinci. Kinda tricky as I wove part of the background fabric after I had traced his face onto the fabric. Cutting just up to the edge of his face and hair! At the time, my daughter had traveled to Italy twice so I made a quilt for her which we just showed at the opening. I took her pictures, newspapers from Italy and postcards and transferred them onto fabric. I edged most of them with a hot glue gun allowing the glue to melt onto the edges. Yes, hot glue gun! Look, I won't be here 100 years from now so do I care if this quilt holds up! No one will even know who 'mum' or 'Robbie' was so who cares. Dawn has this quilt hanging in her kitchen/dining area. It looks pretty cool hung up.

My friend who now lives in Italy had her quilt for our South of the Border exhibit in the Flint Journal so I mailed her the newspaper. Thought she'd enjoy reading some English rather than Italian in a newspaper as well! So to 're purpose' an envelope I had...I just stenciled on one side and..

Just adding some doodling on the back side. Keeps our local post office amused.

These are the two quilts that were featured in the Flint Journal this week advertising our show. The Tango (left) is by Carol Wineman from Ann Arbor and the The Village is by my friend, Lois Ann Fulton, who now resides in Italy with her hubby (she's the lady I decorated the envelope for above). Pretty cool art quilts aren't they!

We hung the 60 quilts for the MQAI - South of the Border exhibit yesterday. It was so interesting to see how cohesive this show is! Some years you have to put your thinking cap on as to which piece is hung next to which piece. This year Mary and Marty didn't seem to have any problems as the pieces just went next to one another! I'm the nail pounder! I have my sturdy hammer, nails (in my wrist magnet hubby bought Mary and I!), my ruler and off I go.

Tonight we're meeting our friends Carol P. and Tony for dinner. They now have an apartment in Michigan for the six months then back to Ocala for the other six. Tony has golfed with Bob once since they've been here and Bob's hoping he'll get to golf with him again before his surgery! Tomorrow is the opening reception for our South of the Border exhibit so I'll be eating dinner out again! Oh, the life of a retiree is so strenuous sometimes...but someone has to do it so guess I'll tough it out!

A 'Geezzz' moment

I've written about 'Still Alice' and I certainly had my share of 'her' moments yesterday! So we were meeting friends for dinner and then having them come over for coffee and dessert. Sounds simple doesn't it! I made 'home made' banana pudding to use in the Nila Wafer banana pudding dessert. All is well until I poured some of the 'hot' pudding on top of the wafers then (per recipe!) put sugar free cool whip on top..thinking to myself..gee, that hot pudding wonder what will happen to the cool whip! And yep, it happened..cool whip started to melt. OK, on to next step to hold off until the pudding is chilled..then I put on the cool whip; added some nice toasted coconut and another layer of cool whip. Looked nice (this is NOT my picture above!). Into the shower, getting dressed and thought, heck, I think I'll have a banana before dinner..I'm getting hungry. WAIT! Banana!! I forgot to put the banana in the 'Banana nila wafer pudding'. Not big deal. I just sliced bananas put them on top of the cool whip then added some more cool whip. Whew!
Off to dinner at one of our favorite spots and had a great time. Back to our house for coffee and chatting and just a really nice visit with Joan and Jerry! As we were walking back into house after saying good bye to them, my hubby said "I thought you were going to make dessert?" WHAT!! Dessert!!! I forgot to put out the dessert!!!! Did I mention I forgot! Boy, do I feel like a dummy! Bob called Jerry and told him to come back and get the dessert. I'm sure they think I've totally lost it now! Oh well, the dessert was really good and refreshing! My 'Alice' moment for the day (you have to read my blog post here to know who 'Alice' is).

Lynn from Beading Heart Art blog talked about her 'blog book' she had made. I've seen books from the Blog2print web site on some other blog sites as well and I had my first year of 'blogging' put to paper! I received my book last weekend and it's wonderful! High quality paper, binding and even has a table of contents! This is a "year in my life" as my hubby likes to say - Dec. 2008 - Dec. 2009 Check it out!

table of contents!

Just some of the entries

I am really impressed and will have the current year downloaded while we're in Florida next winter.