Wineberries - Summer's Bounty

Has anyone ever heard of wineberries before?

They are an invasive plant, but oh, how delicious.

Clearly a member of the raspberry family.

We underappreciated them for years,

but now revel in their taste and color.

Woman of Valor Fabric Postcard

This is my latest fabric postcard. The group's theme was Woman of Valor. It depicts my great-grandmother and my three daughters. It honors a very special woman of the past and celebrates three young women of the future with their great-great grandmother.

The quote that I chose to use was, "She watches over the ways of her household and never eats the bread of idleness."

I used batik fabric for the background and cut lace motifs from an old piece of lace which I glued on with a fabric glue. The photographic images were printed on purchased fabric sheets and run through my inkjet printer. The heat set heart decoration was ironed on the postcard. This postcard was truly a fusion of old and new materials and techniques.

Jonah and Ariel's Chupah

This is the Chupah that I created for my son Jonah's recent wedding to Ariel Schwartz. It was created like a quilt and incorporated family photographs from both Jonah's and Ariel's families. I sampled several fabric products that are designed for ink jet printers and was most pleased with EQ Printables. [no affliation]

Ariel gave me the design ideas: 1. a Tree of Life which I created using the fusible applique technique, 2. the theme of L'Dor V'Dor (from generation to generation), and 3. the incorporation of family pictures.

A child's marriage is a moving experience for any parent, but the experience of standing under the chupah with your children and looking up at pictures of ancestors is powerful. I am so pleased that I was able to create this chupah for Jonah and Ariel and I know that they will treasure it for years to come.

Rachael and Russell's Wedding

We could not have asked for a more perfect day!

Creating a Chupah for Rachael and Russell

My daughter Rachael asked me to create a chupah for her upcoming wedding to Russell.

Rather than crafting a quilted chupah which I thought would take a long time and would prove very hot in the summer California sun, I opted to create a chupah using a silk-painting technique.

This was a bit of a stretch for me as the only silk painted piece I had ever done measured 11 inches square and the chupah that I would be making was going to measure nearly 6 feet square.

However, I decided to go ahead with the project.

I drew a design that measured 18" square using wording and design elements that Rachael had requested.

This proved to be a perfect size as I was able to cut the design in quarters (note the registration marks on the pattern above) and take it to my local copy shop. Each piece of the design was enlarged 400% so that each section measured 36" square.

I then taped the four sections together and traced them onto a piece of silk.

After securing the silk to a simple wooden frame that my husband built for me, I applied a water-soluable resist on the lines that I had drawn on the fabric. Note that the elaborate border that I had designed for the chupah was scrapped, as my hands were hurting from squeezing the bottle of resist.

The chuppah in progress over several days. I used Dynaflow paint which can be heat-set with an iron when the project is complete. I also used a few Setasilk colors, but I greatly preferred the Dynaflow paint.

I never considered using chartreuse as a color in the chuppah, but it absolutely made it zing.

The finished product!

In my next post, I will share a wedding photo.

California Dreaming

My first visit to California was amazing. Visiting with Rachael and Russell was a gift and meeting Russell's family was wonderful. An extra added bonus was our trip to LaJolla. I will treasure my day on the shore of the Pacific Ocean.

Seals sunning themselves on the beach before returning to the waters of the Pacific.

A sea lion....

Snow in January

Another view from the front yard. The sky is as grey today as the picture captures. Oh for a hint of blue sky...