OH TANNENBAUM

This is the RED TREE. For awhile I had been on a quest for a taller than 6 ft. tree. I searched both on foot and let my fingers do the walkin' through the internet and finally one year I found an online ad for Kmart and Wes and I headed out for the nearest store...the ad was for 80 or 89 dollars but the cashier insisted that we pay 60! We set it up last year in our Federal Way place. This year it found residence in Brandon and Noe's place here in Bremerton. It's pretty awesome in this window..especially from the outside...the lights cascade around the windows and the short hedge outdoors is lit in whites also.

FINALLY..Wesquilt

And what else would it be besides motorcycles??!...I began collecting and piecing things in my mind....and found a green fabric with black gears, masculine enough, I thought. Then came the black fabric with engineering type drawings of trains in white....and I thought since he rides and drives a Harley, and frequents the dealerships, I added the orange...couldn't find the actual racing orange, but, close enough. Some smaller pieces are from an outfit I made for a hula competition where I chanted (it looks like burnt wood, ash and rock), and then some other Hawaiian print in coordinating colors. When pieced together you can't see the Hawaiian...it is virtually hidden, kinda like me!! The green fabric that reminds me of oil spills and how oil and water don't mix, and then the freaky yellowish olive green with more circles...another black with small gray circles and dots...and I went through several striped fabrics before settling on the black and white for the border.

I practiced my machine quilting...wow...I need a lot more practice...but the quilting looks like roads that meander, some with dead ends, some that go on seemingly forever.

What did I learn? What can I improve upon? I'd like to work a quilt top that stays flat and is cleanly pressed before adding the batting and backing. I wished I had another couple of rows of circles and that the quilt was a foot longer--to envelope the user in warmth from neck to toe. At this size, it's a lap quilt.

windmills of your mind

Circles...why? "Like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel never ending or beginning in an ever-spinning reel...like the circles that you find, in the windmills of your mind"...it's a song from the 60's...maybe a theme from a James Bond movie, whatever it was, I remember...... and related it to: Wheels, tracks, motorcycles, gears, tools, trains, Hawaii....they are all included in this quilt. When I first saw circles in quilts I didn't think about how against the grain of things I'd be going. I blogged my first efforts and then felt so discouraged that I put the project aside as sewing quarter circles and squares stretched and deformed. Then one day, months later, I saw something that made better sense...sew a large circle onto a larger square and then cut that in fourths...it's rocket science, I tell you, and the lightbult glowed bright in my brain! In another vein of mindlessness I was at a birthday party and saw a quilt on the couch...circles...bullseyes!! I picked Barb's brain and she shared her experience of a group of her friends, a couple of them are avid and experienced quilters and they worked on this quilt together. Hmmmm...

This is one of the individual squares where pictures of motorcycle racers were transferred onto an piece of fabric via iron-on stuff...That was a feat within itself. How I latched on to that idea, I don't know. I googled "motorcycle racing" and then clicked on "images" and chose about 20 or so people that I know by name from watching the races with Wes. I tried to size them to something usable for my purposes and I saved them all in a works file. Kanoe happened to have the iron transferable "paper". She was up to the task of getting the images transferred by working on her laptop and I sent the file to her. She had to reverse the images so when I ironed them they wouldn't be backwards. The pictures were in color and I wanted black and white.

Knot balls...

So this is a close up of a shirt I'm working on. The fabric strip at the left is what I used to make the contrasting trim piping and the frog closures. This is at the final stage..I've got to re-do the knots and place one more at the center of the collar in front where you see the shiny pin that marks the spot. Though Mismas is closing in fast, I want to finish this before some other projects I'm working on.

Today I baked chocolate chip cookies and prepped the fruitcake stuff. The sugar cookie dough would be refrigerated and ready to go except we've run out of flour. Tonight is GAME NIGHT. I'll be IGOR in the workshop upstairs while the fun young crowd has fondue. Each couple is bringing a game. Each game will be played for 20 minutes. The gang will critique the games. What fun!

My plan is to have Chinese movie night in the workshop and think about chow mein noodles and manapua while I complete my sketches of clothing. Crouching Tiger has the best costumes - from peasant country folk, to the ruling Manchurians and everything in between!

I'm so eggcited..Pointer Sisters

I don't guess it looks like much this way, but this shirt has been in my mind for at least a few years. Good things come to those who wait. It has taken me awhile to start and I am bound and determined to complete it. After sewing it for the first time I decided it needed trim. So I had to make my own piping with contrast fabric. Then I took the collar apart to put the trim on. The closures are called "frogs". I dunno why. In the meantime I searched my book of knots and found one I wanted to use. After making the knots I've decided I was a tad overzealous and they should be about half that size.

I'm having an identity crisis...I've been Hawaiian, Japanese and Caucasian all of my life. But at times I've been referred to as "part Oriental". Now I guess I'm part Hawaiian or part Asian. Go figure. I researched on-line and looked at many costumes. It really bugged me that the kapoe haole pattern companies wrap the shirts right over left...that is just NOT CORRECT...at least, I had that feeling..remembering my kimono in dance class. So I had to reverse the pattern pieces and my brain has a hard enough time just following directions!

Now I know why I love to watch Japanese and Chinese movies. The kids go crazy when I pause the Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon movie to sketch out clothes. So there you are...I'm working on a short sleeved green one for Christmas, and have of course, already found the earrings to go with! I so love homespun looking fabrics and hope to find some linen and silks.

machine quilting

So, I've had this system that was designed by a retired engineer turned quilter for a month or so.....In theory it works really spiffy, especially since I sent my 30+ year old Bernina out to be serviced. I slid the DVD into the slot and set things up as directed and for the life of me, I'm so scared that this has been sitting for a couple of weeks at least. I'm getting my courage up to finish quilting this using my new system. I suppose it beats the other options out...most systems cost upwards of a few thousand dollars and you really need an entire room dedicated to quilting! I've already done a quilt using the Bernina and my own 2 little hands without this type of setup so it should be easy squeezy. I've gotta get this done by Christmas for my grandson. Carpe diem, I think is what they say..Sieze the Day!

December Happenings

Things have really been scaled down in my life. I elected not to participate in a Christmas choir. I feel like being a homebody instead of traipsing around the county in the freezing cold or dreary rain. As far as music of the season goes, I'm teaching it to the little children in Primary at church and landed a duet at a Christmas party for the women and a trio piece for Christmas Sunday. I've gone to a book club meeting and cookie exchange (I only read the introduction!), I've worked very slowly and meticulously on doing a nice job on small projects instead of getting stressed over trying to complete too many things and burning the midnight oil too much.

Nissy and I braved the cold on the ferry and got to the annual motorcycle show and the two of us had great fun...hoping to make this a tradition, as she seems to like driving a quad and will be dirt biking soon. We saw and sat on some really cool bikes! Alas, no pictures to show for it...they are in the cell phones trying to break out! That helped me to decide to ask Santa for a small point and shoot camera. I'll be able to download some video and learn how to put stuff on YOU TUBE. The larger camera doesn't enjoy being out in the cold and needs to get it's computer checked out. Happy Holidays to all...mismas is coming soon!

gingerbread kids

Wow!! It was REALLY MESSY!! ...but exceptional fun. I think these kids ate more candy than what they "glued" onto their houses!
Left to right in the group picture are Trishana, Lehua, Anisa behind her, Kawailani in front, Jack behind her and Oscar hanging off the right end. As they grow older and have different activities, it's harder for all of the kids to have an activity. Missing from the photo are Hayden, Marcus, and Noah. Their parents are so organized and got their g-bread houses done earlier in the month! We missed them!

my patu

I've been really interested in bone...for years, actually. I collected some beef leg bone and copied some pages of a bone carving book...if you've followed me you might vaguely remember my description of the smell of working with bone--like what you may have experienced in the dentist chair when he was drilling your teeth....

Nowadays, I realize my "attraction" to this is because bone is "'iwi" and represents the ancestors. It also happens that I'm influenced by my brother Dave, who is a master carver in the Maori or New Zealand art form. I think the Polynesians have such a connection to each other and who knows who came first to Hawai'i...or travelled up and down the warmer part of the Pacific Ocean!

Bone starts out as white...and as you wear it, it takes on your body oil and begins to be ivory in color (hence why I'm wearing it so much just now). Patu is a hand held war club. As my life is filled with challenges I sometimes feel like a Hawaiian Zena-type warrior (did I say PRINCESS?...eeeuw yukh!)..not a Disney or Barbie princess type, I assure you.

Nope, I did NOT make this....if I could, that would be a new career for me! I found a Tongan artist and with the help of Terry, my sister-in-law, and a few well-placed Tongan phrases I was able to purchase this patu at an excellent price.