After getting the new bathroom put to rights, I

From this:

I did a lot of that today. My seam ripper was my most used tool today.

The bathroom project is nearly finished and there will be photos in due time. Suffice it to say that I love the result, but the mess was getting to me earlier this week. The chaos and noise of saws whining and workmen hammering and dust flying does wear thin. On Tuesday we were all a little of sick of it and Marco, who stay

We painted the new bathroom this weekend. The bathroom isn't finished, but it is easier to paint before the cabinets and toilet and floor are in place. While I am usually most drawn to warm, earthy colors for my surroundings, for this new bathroom I wanted something light and cool and clean looking. I have a

Since I bought

to sit in a chair and read a book? I know people who do that. Sit. For hours at a time, reading. I envy that, yet I can't seem to get myself into that chair. I read in bed before I go to sleep, or while I'm eating lunch or breakfast. If I have to wait for Ray somewhere I read. I have most books on my Kindle these days and I

Day 2 was not as productive and positive as day 1 on our bathroom project. This was the day when things got complicated. In every home improvement project there is one (or more) of those days. The electrician arrived to replace the circuit box with a more modern, safer box. As he started to pull the old one out he heard ang

We were ready for the remodeling crew bright and early this morning. I went off to have my teeth cleaned before they arrived. When I got home an hour and a half later they were just about ready to start demo-ing the wall, having set up their tools in the garage, laying canvas drop cloths over all the carpet (gotta keep that

If you've been reading this blog for awhile you know that we bought our house nearly five years ago and spent almost a year remodeling the kitchen and replacing windows and moving a few walls before we moved in. If you missed it you can see a bit of that process

 Here is something fun, for a good cause.

What an interesting morning I had!  The production crew from the Alex Anderson/Ricky Tims web TV show, The Quilt Show, was here taping in my studio for about 4 hours. There was a big surprise element, as well. While I knew the crew would be here, I did not know that Alex Anderson would show up as a surprise. I think I

Mother's Day was good. It isn't my favorite holiday. It is a little contrived and some of the sentiment is pretty forced, but it was a good day here in my world.I think the best thing about Mother's Day is that little people really get into it and really seem to love an opportunity to express their sweet, pure l

Maybe you have seen the Apple ad that says that the iPhone is the most used camera in the world. That really struck me and I believe it. I love to take photos and I have a nice camera that I like and use a lot, but having that iPhone camera in my pocket nearly all the time has changed the way I think about taking photos. To

If you aren't reading Lisa Flowers Ross's blog you are missing a lot! I discovered Lisa several years ago and love her blog. She lives in Boise, Idaho (I lived there once—many years ago. That's where I found Ray) and writes about her textile work, her work at the Boise Ar

I am working on another piece using the shirting fabrics and buildings. This one is big for me and I am struggling with it. I decided to work with a cooler color scheme and this blue building is quite prominent toward the center of the piece.

Me, far right, back toward the camera, painting studio critique,

I'm not sure I ever showed this little quilt here, e

I am starting a new piece in my architectural series and the first component is a

I sold a piece of my work yesterday. An old friend con

I wonder how ancient man decided to create art. Was it something that was always in us? Or did someone invent it, like they did the wheel? My painting professor, in college, said he always imagined that two cave guys were sitting around the fire one day and one of them picked up a rock with three dark spots on it, and said,

I was sent a copy of this

When I was very young, I thought 40 was old. It is true that the

So, I did add some more stitching to this little piece and I think it works

I find a good way to use up small scraps from bigger projects is to make small pieces. They are generally pretty spontaneous and rely on whatever is in my scrap box at the moment. Since I have some shows coming up where I can sell small, bin art, I decided to try some of my shirting scraps and made this little piece (it is

When I was a child Easter mornings were spent at the Methodi

 Officially that was last week, but in a practical sense it was

A commenter asked what kind of thread I use for the black stitching I did on the red umbrellas piece.

The red umbrellas piece is finished! I am calling it "red umbrellas" for now, but I may come up with a different name eventually. Here it is: