The Zipper Obsession began in 2008. I have more ideas than time, but so far I’ve completed 3 quilts and 1 necklace using zippers and zipper parts.
I put out a call for zippers in our electric coop magazine, called the Ruralite, in the summer of 2008.
I’ve received over 90 packages of zippers since then, from all over the western United States.
The smallest package held one zipper, folded up and mailed in a legal size envelope.
The largest package came from Chugiak, Alaska, with two big boxes of over 300 zippers, all still in their original wrappers, but not new.
I bet you’ll see zippers everywhere now…
The daffodils were poking up when four inches of snow sprung instead of spring. A race for the future began, with the daffodils growing and blooming in time to complete their life cycle. Now they are in full bloom and shivering in the 20-degree temps in the early morning. They should have waited for the warm weather sure to come soon. I’m still in my down jacket, waiting patiently.
Wearing my red down jacket first thing in the morning, it’s not unusual to see a Blue Jay bouncing on the branch of an Aspen tree, calling out “peanuts, peanuts, peanuts now!”
Squirrels have been digging up fluffy dried grass for their nests. Deer walk casually down the stone pathway, as if we built it just for them.
Sometimes we are up early enough to catch wild bunnies nibbling tender new wildflower shoots. Oh shoot!
On the shelves you can see a random collection of round objects: glass bowls, vases, a hand-blown cup from Japan, orange juice squeezer from my childhood, treasures from David’s family and other “knickknacks”. I never thought I’d collect “small trivial articles intended for ornament” (Merriam-Webster), but these small objects carry good memories and bring joy while I do ordinary tasks.
Or perhaps circles and Pi (the mathematical constant that describes the ratio of any circle’s circumference to its diameter) captivate me. Carl Sagan wrote his novel Contact around the idea that the secret of the universe could be found in this irrational number. If true, maybe this goes a long way to explaining all the paradoxes: we live in an irrational universe!
April 24: View From My Kitchen Window
I just might be cured of Yellow Fever. I once envisioned embellishing and encrusting an entire quilt (or at least the border) with the collected yellow stuff. But after filling in a space smaller than four inches by six inches, I’m over it. Really.
It wasn’t until after I finished the postcards with stitched branches that I realized I’d been under the influence of these blooming trees on SE Yamhill Street in Portland, Oregon.
The excitement just keeps building as we get closer to the 35th Annual Outdoor Quilt Show and Quilters Affair week, put on by The Stitching Post in Sisters, Oregon.
One of the many events is the “Wish Upon a Card” fundraiser for the Wendy’s Wish Foundation. With over $30,000 raised in the three previous Wish Upon a Card silent auction and buy-it-now card sales, this year could be even bigger.
Yesterday I donated 13 of my postcards for the fundraiser. You can donate your own fiber art postcards too- check it out, make your cards and get them in by the first of July.
stitchinpost.com From this website, check out the store, events, and more.
http://www.sistersoutdoorquiltshow.org/WishPostcards09.htm See some of the fiber art postcards from 2009.
www.wendyswish.org For more information about the Wendy’s Wish Foundation and the late Wendy Huntley.
Circles are everywhere…everywhere I tell you! But sometimes they are fleeting. While spring has sprung in other places, we still have below freezing temperatures, snow or frost in the night.
By noon it can be “shorts weather” (if you wear shorts when it’s in the 40’s and 50’s).
April 17: Circles in the Snow
I finished 49 postcards on Thursday, April 15. My dues have been paid! And taxes, of course.
I save the zigzagging for last, so I can sort the cards by shared thread color. At 5-7 minutes per postcard, plus time to pamper the sewing machine (a quilters best friend), zigzagging 49 postcards adds up. But who counts the minutes?
P.S. Yes, I love Sulky Blendable thread!
My Dad liked to go on “junkets”. While others do errands, my Dad ventured on small travel adventures. He usually came home with only items on the list, but sometimes, he jaunted through the front door, wearing an impeccable three-piece suit, with a new treasure. He used to say, “it reached out and grabbed me”. In other words, he had no choice!
What is choice? I heard about research in which opinions were swayed by whether the person had just held a cup of hot or cold coffee. If this is true, how do we make important decisions? Form rational opinions?
On a recent trip to our locally owned Newport Market in Bend, these two plates reached out and grabbed me. Everything about these little dishes felt compelling: the colors, the designs, the glazes. In my defense, I did ask myself how I would use them, but I already knew I’d be happy just seeing the little bowls in my everyday environment.
April 10: Choice vs Impulse
We have a cancer fundraiser here in Central Oregon called “The Wendy’s Wish Foundation”, in honor of Wendy Huntley, from Bend, Oregon (just north of where I live) who passed away in 2006.
Peggy Kaseweater, of LaPine, Oregon (just south of where I live) collects jar lids to transform into pincushions. Peggy sells the pincushions- saving jar lids from the landfill and donating all the money to Wendy’s Wish. Peggy makes the world a better place, one jar lid at a time.
I’m ready to drop off a bag of salvaged jar lids. I love knowing they will be transformed and put to good use. It’s a win-win-win situation.
April 3: PinCushions for Cancer
