Karin Birch :: Sewn

"Home for the Holidays"

2011-12-08T17:46:00.001-08:00

New padded pouches heading to Catepetl Studio in Middletown MD for this weekends event, see below.

A great place to find local handmade gifts, in a beautiful rural setting.Sorting and fraying. This is one day of sewing, which I've been doing everyday this week to fill orders for 5 shops and the up coming Catepetl open studio.

2011-11-26T13:50:00.001-08:00

Starting a series of 6 pieces each beginning with a silk screened image on white linen as background. This is a huge shift in color sensibility as I've been working on natural linen for years, which has an absorbing toning down effect on color and adds a rich stabilizing contrast to brilliant sparkling beads. There will be some technical adjustments to working out the details of using a thinner linen, hopefully with some interesting surface results. Each of the six prints are different yet similar, leaving plenty of options for embroidery exploration.

2011-11-22T19:06:00.001-08:00

2011-07-19T19:25:00.000-07:00

Here I am peeping around a garden with my new to me red camera.

Pie on the fly, picked, baked and on the way to a party, rhubarb pie.

Some recent improvements

2011-07-19T19:01:00.000-07:00

Ta da, the rock wall is finished. Jerry completed this side wall in about a week. All dry laid and beautifully puzzled together.

This was taken before I forgot to water on multiple hot days.

All the grass is gone from the front yard and a lot of food is growing amongst the shrubs and perennials.

The wine grapes are up on wires now and they even have their own yard art. Jerry made 6 bottles of wine from last years harvest, which didn't have such handsome surroundings.

The guest room/office has officially moved out of the living room, into it's own space.

Bicycle Rack Installation

2011-06-19T12:59:00.000-07:00

Getting ready for the cement pour.

This is the first phase of Jerry's installation of these cool new bicycle racks near Beans in the Belfry in Brunswick MD. He had the railing made locally, made the retaining wall and set the racks. Next step is installing the gravel and slab.

March opening

2011-06-19T12:26:00.000-07:00

Gardening has been taking all my time of late, which is good, so I am a little behind on this one. This is Jerry and I at the opening of my solo show last March. It was a phenomenal turn out for the opening and people were really buzzed about the work. Alas, no sales which is a first in 18 years of doing solo shows, hence all the gardening work.

2011-05-31T14:20:00.000-07:00

Installation of oval mirror scavenged on bulk trash night.

Also found a working outdoor umbrella, which was very needed, a wool oriental rug amazingly as big as my dinning room and a great metal chair for my studio garden.

2011-05-31T13:34:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to our wonderful friend Billy, who is letting us use space in her garden. This is more space than I’ve ever gotten to plant food in having always had tiny postage stamp lots crammed with French intensive raised beds. So far we’ve double dug two of the beds and tilled one, planting 2 kinds of potatoes, lots of garlic, corn, green beans, beets, carrots, winter squash and melons. At Jerry’s house we have wine grapes, strawberries, blueberries, rhubarb, shallots, lettuce, radish, peas, basil, peppers, beets, kale and tomatoes and at my studio are the raspberries, blackberries, asparagus and table grapes and lots of herbs at both places.

Yesterday we scooped out lots of wine berry on one of our most favorite walks that we’ll be back to pick when there ready. I am so excited to be growing so much food.

Untitled Night

2011-05-31T08:02:00.000-07:00

This 8"x 14" embroidery is heading to Minneapolis for the SDA Conference silent auction fundraiser in June. Bidding starts at $700.

new start

2011-03-25T13:29:00.000-07:00

Worked in two gardens this morning and did a walk around in a potential new garden. This afternoon started two new pieces, one destined for the SDA auction and one for the affordable market that I am inventing.

Clean Studio Day

2011-03-24T14:22:00.000-07:00

How long?

2011-01-28T13:20:00.000-08:00

People always want to know how long it takes me to make a piece. This little secton of beadwork is about an 8 hr day. I had a short lunch, no phone calls, though I did take a break to read the wonderful article about Sandra Brownlee in the current Surface Design. Other than that I was stitching. I am not really sure how I like it yet; I’ll tear it out if I have too , however I'd think it over carefully first.

Work In Progress

2011-01-16T15:35:00.000-08:00

signs of improvement

2011-01-16T15:15:00.000-08:00

The first two weeks of 2011 I have sold more art than in all of the last year and a half. Phew, maybe things are looking up.

Thanksgiving

2010-12-26T19:40:00.000-08:00

The week after Thanksgiving, which I spent most of Thanksgiving week on the couch recovering from a bad hip injury, I had the wonderful experience of my daughter and parents coming to work with me. Being one who loves solitude and works very well alone it was a lovely surprise having my family being all industrious around me. My dad took over the pot holders cutting table while I worked on the sewing machine and my mom and Chloe worked together reupholstering Chloe’s dinning room set.

Christmas Day 2010

2010-12-26T17:32:00.000-08:00

The morning started very late with freshly baked Anadama apple coffee cake, eggs scrambled with caramelized onions and bits of sausage, coffee and clementines. After a long walk around town we made mushroom croustades to have with wine. Mushrooms croustades is how, after all, I bribed Chloe to come for Christmas dinner in the first place. Then for dinner we made pot-roasted poussins agro dolce with mashed potatoes, and steamed kale and finished with pear clafouti (custard tart).

new padded pouches

2010-10-07T14:30:00.000-07:00

UICA Interview: Beili Liu

2010-10-03T14:01:00.000-07:00

Frayed Pouch

2010-09-30T15:17:00.000-07:00

A padded pouch experiment that probably will not go into production.

Prototype

2010-09-30T15:08:00.000-07:00

Working out the kinks of a new bag design. I love this color combination. The flap is a great vintage curtain fabric.

Making Invites for my Open Studio

2010-09-03T10:28:00.000-07:00

I bailed on a gardening job this am and made invites for my upcoming Open Studio instead. Not a fiscally wise move but I really really needed a change up in the schedule.
I, myself, have found a grammar accident already, so I am sure my dear editor Jerry will have regrets that I forged on ahead. Sometimes I just forget that these things are so important to some people. Well maybe most people. I think they turned out beautifully all the same and the sewing was a last minute coup.

new office curtains

2010-08-24T15:03:00.000-07:00

! love these "new' vintage curtains for my office which gets lots of hot southwestern sun.

Pot Holder production

2010-08-19T14:44:00.000-07:00

This stack is about half the potholder I made this week to get a jump on the Christmas season. That out of the way, next week I start a new embroidery piece.

What's happening to the city trees?

2010-08-08T16:24:00.000-07:00

At N. Delaware and Brunswick street in the Old Lutheran Cemetery we have a beautifully spectacular, old Sycamore tree, perhaps two hundred years old, that has been gloriously disregarding the neglect that has allowed it to fill with English Ivy, that leaves its dead branches for storms to prune, and its calls for help, by sending out suckers, ignored. This should be an honored and protected tree in our community.

Instead, sometime in the last week, this Sycamore sustained something far worse than neglect: it was actually butchered and maimed by our Public Works. It’s hard to say what prompted this; there was one dead branch removed and many healthy ones. The work showed absolutely no knowledge of proper tree pruning techniques, no aesthetic judgment and little understanding of proper maintance for public safety. Every single branch was cut in a way that cannot heal, leaving many open wounds susceptible to disease and decay which weakens existing branches, creates weak structure for new growth and can eventually kill the tree. Healthy branches were removed some 30 feet up, far above the height of safe passage for vehicles. The shape of the tree, viewed from B Street and N. Delaware has been badly damaged. Tree pruning is as much an Art as it is a Science. The ability to turn on a chainsaw does not an arborist make. This is a valuable and irreplaceable treasure and this level of workmanship had no business going near it. This is unacceptable.

Click image to enlarge.

As we spend valuable time and money, whether it comes from grants or not, planting hundreds of new trees, we also need to plan for how to responsibly and skillfully take care of them because it does matter to their heath, safety and beauty. If we cannot take care of what we already have and continue to destroy valuable existing trees and cultivars on purpose (think B Street Cemetery) or by neglect (think inkberry hollies in Rail Road Square) without understanding their value – in dollar terms, in quality of life terms, in environmental terms – one has to question why are we even bothering to plant at all?

I cannot help but think, how on earth can a town that is so willing to display its ignorance, its poverty of judgment and its short-sightedness, have any hope of attracting employers or investors? How a community looks is an expression of who lives here; and if we are willing to live with this level of skill, what does that say about us?

Also, this last week, all the small trees on the steep embankment along 2nd Ave. at D Street were cut down to the ground. What do you think is holding up the embankment? For free! The tree roots are. A little farther down the road you can see where this is going: it took a lot of $$$ to build the concrete retaining wall to hold up a similarly steep slope. Why was this done? Wasting time and energy on projects that will end up causing huge corrective expense down the line is not cost effective. Understanding erosion control is necessary in this town, not optional, and I don’t think the grant money was designed to plant trees so we could take them down elsewhere.

All the trees along the corner of 5th and H Street have also been brutally and irresponsibly hacked, for what purpose? They will not look better or be safer after this. Is this some kind of anger management therapy?

On the plus side, recently, a volunteer pruned the Cherry trees in Square Corner Park. The winter storm damage was pruned and the branches were limbed up so they could be walked and mowed under. The volunteer did a beautiful and skilled job of pruning and shaping these trees, all the cuts will heal over, adding to their health and adding beauty and value to the park. Please, go take a look at these trees and compare the results of work done at 5th and H and on the Sycamore at N. Delaware and Brunswick Street. I am not suggesting skilled work should be voluntary, although that is much preferable to what is currently happening. The City needs a process by which horticultural issues are assessed and identified on city property, determining which need skilled care; it’s too late after it’s been chainsawed. The City grass-mowing is farmed out; why not critical horticultural work being farmed out to skilled people? Or, a citizen’s advisory board, utilizing skilled individuals, some of whom already voluntarily take care of city property, becoming more formalized. We cannot afford to continue neglecting and abusing our community landscape in the name of saving money, because it’s not.

Skate Boarding

2010-07-21T10:24:00.000-07:00

I love this! And by the way, something to consider when designing public spaces.

Poverty of Spirit

2010-07-21T08:58:00.001-07:00

As the race for council seats in Brunswick MD gets underway and citizens are thinking about what they would like to change or improve in our City, I would like to explore an aspect of the larger problem of the relationship of City Hall to the community that I have been thinking about for some time.

How the City maintains and manages city property, the spaces that are open to all citizens and the public, that are often welcoming signs to visitors and which serve as strong visual clues to the spirit of a place, are in a state of poverty and neglect. There is an utter lack of consciousness and care in our public landscapes.

Square Corner Park is a good place to start, arguably the most cared for and most visible of the Downtown public properties. While it almost always comes down to a retort of lack of funding, the following cost nothing to improve other than someone caring about a job well done. I am 110% behind recycling containers in the park. Six of them are overkill causing excessive visual clutter and physically inhibiting the proper function of other facilities, for no particular reason other than thoughtlessness. If they must be stored in the park, there are less obtrusive place to put them than in the welcoming viewshed. Does a port-a-potty really need to be feet away from the drinking fountain, and so up front in the park? And no, these photos are not taken the morning after an event; these are taken today, 2 ½ weeks after July’s first Friday.

What is the point of having beautiful new benches if this is how they are treated?

Bike racks are at a premium downtown, is this really the best use of space?

On a positive note, a very skilled volunteer recently pruned the winter storm damage and low hanging branches of the established Cherry trees. Thank you, Mr. Olson.

Stay tuned, more to follow…

Gardening for a living

2010-07-13T12:06:00.000-07:00

While I am home recovering this week from eye surgery, thought I’d catch up with things. I’ve been doing a lot of garden maintenance, my newest plan B career. A, being my art career, which I have been ignoring in favor of B. This is the first time in my life I’ve done work and simply gotten paid for it at an agreed upon price. I have always worked on speculation, whether for tips or making things to sell. Just getting paid is sooo easy. Who would have known? And I love going to work; I’ve never enjoyed leaving the house as much. Going to work to make art is in a different category since I am not “going out into the world” physically, so the two experiences are not comparable in my mind.

Anyways, I am taking care of 10 gardens, 2 are actually getting very little care, but I check in from time to time for the essentials, they are both old and don’t require much attention. In a state of grace you might say. The garden I spend the most time in is always running way ahead, I will be lucky to cover all the areas before Thanksgiving and it already needs me to go back and redo what’s been done, everything lively and boisterous and jumping around. But this garden will be splendid one day. One garden just stays finely tuned all the time. Wonderful Jerry helps me out from time to time in various gardens and I am counting among these our garden, which we both work in for free, of course, sorting out the coexsistanance of our different styles and tastes. Several others are volunteer efforts, the Police Station’s perennial garden, with tomatoes plants added, right around the corner from us. The Pocket Park which I am determined to make into a lovely little public place in time and my Guerrilla Garden where we have saved several very old, very big Yews, one from grape vine suffocation and on from weed tree invasion. But the next job there is hard and nasty, separating gavel from dirt to resurrect perennial beds. Maybe in the fall, when it’s cooler?

New Eye

2010-07-13T08:07:00.001-07:00

I can see again! I had cataract surgery on my left eye yesterday and it’s now an unbelievably beautiful new world out there. I’ve had increasing cloudiness in that eye for years but of late I’ve seen nothing but a white cloud. Note: very challenging condition for making left-handed turns on a bicycle in traffic… The really surprising thing however, beyond being able to see with two eyes again, is the brilliant colors, the heightened contrast and the shininess of things. Perhaps this is because my pupil is still wide open? I was quite used to a slightly flat, dull view with skewed depth perception. But now I am living in a Technicolor 3D viewfinder.

The Wall

2010-06-17T14:32:00.000-07:00

Jerry's spring project the wall, or the face of the wall at least, is complete! It's beautiful.

Places I've Been Lately

2010-05-13T13:47:00.000-07:00

2010-05-13T13:43:00.000-07:00

2010-05-13T13:33:00.000-07:00

Cascading light & Logos

2010-05-13T13:14:00.000-07:00

Cleaning up the Neighborhood

2010-04-27T09:09:00.000-07:00

Some wonderful angel picked up the first huge pile we created as we bit by bit take out the trees growing up inside the biggest of the 4 old Yews on this property. This day we took two loads to recycling with the help of some local kids who, out enjoying the day, stopped to help us load the truck.

I finished pulling out the last of the wild grapevine that had completely engulfed Yew #3, making a little tiny pile.

solomon seal

2010-04-03T11:52:00.000-07:00

I Love My Magnolia Tree

2010-04-01T13:59:00.000-07:00

Commission Bag

2010-03-17T12:17:00.000-07:00

Finished this, very over due, bag commission today; it's going to live in Tucson. The River is going down now, here in Maryland, but over the weekend it was right at the edge of the towpath and filling the canal, making it possible to walk this narrow strip of land surrounded by flood. We can see the water, safely, from our living room when it is this high and there are no leaves on the trees. All weekend there was a steady little stream of cars driving over the train tacks to pay homage the power of water. I find this grayness kind of comforting, especially when I am not feeling particularly cold. There were quiet a few days in a row of that perfect grayness and yesterday’s sunshine was kind of a disorienting intrusion. Today’s sun is making the first bursts of magenta on the magnolia buds, so all is forgiven.

Pocket Park

2010-03-05T08:24:00.000-08:00

This is a little Pocket Park on the walk between my house and studio that I have adopted as a restoration and problem-solving project. This is what the shrubs, I don’t know what they are, looked like in the snow. Needless to say there was a lot of damage, when the snow melted. So yesterday, armed with new pruning knowledge (Master Gardener training), Jerry and I removed 100 or so suckers and all the damaged branches, leaving surprisingly elegant results. I wish I had taken my camera with me because the transformation was a little astounding.
We also removed the mulch volcanoes, as mulch volcano kill, suffocating the plant, harboring diseases and as we found in evidence, the roots grow out of the soil into the mulch where they eventually dry out and starve to death. I don't know which happens first?
The inkberry, which didn’t look all that great to start with, got clobbered. I cut out the broken parts and will wait to see what happens to them next.

Storm Damage

2010-03-05T08:22:00.001-08:00

These are the 3 main breaks in my Saucer Magnolia tree. Not only is it on it’s northern most bounders here in Maryland, making it quite the event if it’s fantastic blooms make it through the spring frosts without becoming brown, limp tissue, I am always thrill when it hits peck bloom before getting zapped, but apparently it’s wood is not that strong either. It was really surprising cleaning up the branch, they’re incredibly bouncy and weighty, perhaps from being jam packed with buds.

Absent Garden

2010-02-28T13:59:00.001-08:00

I finished this piece last night as the last of the snowmelts away leaving random piles everywhere. I am intrigued by the sense of falling, which I did not see until I was almost done, and the recurring lapping of curves and points. It has a deep quiet like the snow before people came out, but there are other things going on as well. See it here without the wall paper.

Today, these tiny blue flowers are blooming in the cold wind and bright sun.

2010-02-06T14:28:00.000-08:00

Practicing for their synchronized sleeping competition.

Out the Front Door

2010-02-06T08:48:00.000-08:00

the very beginning of snow

2010-02-05T14:46:00.000-08:00

This week I had some great finds of vintage fabrics, mostly linen tea towels from the early 80’s late 70’s, making for a really wild and interesting batch of potholders.

Master Gardner course

2010-02-01T19:03:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I start my Master Gardener training. I have wanted to do this for a very long time and finally I have applied and will be extricating myself from the studio, to go to class 2 mornings a week for the next ten weeks. Not really sure what I’ve gotten myself into, but will soon find out.

False Flowers

2010-01-27T15:11:00.000-08:00

Shipping Day

2010-01-21T12:52:00.001-08:00

Custom box building, to ship work in, is my most inane task as an artist. Once I get over that idea and before I realize I’ve made some drastic mathematical error I actually enjoy doing it. This one turned out mathematically speaking pretty well, although I did loose interest in tape neatness.

Pot Holder Production

2010-01-17T12:57:00.000-08:00

I found some great black and white vignette material that makes great pot holders particularly with vintage aqua linen in between.
New pot holders will arrive at The Muse on Tuesday and on my Etsy shop throughout the week.

New piece or Finishing the last piece

2010-01-10T15:50:00.000-08:00

I just finished and photographed "Displacement Triptych" today. Image and paperwork are in the mail for tomorrows deadline and if the frame arrives on schedule, it will actually get to Snyderman-Works Gallery for the 7th International Fiber Biennial, opening Feb 5th.

Stitching

2010-01-07T14:00:00.000-08:00

Bead work done. Four different white. Onto thread.

Amaryllis 2010 Early January Bloom

2010-01-07T13:52:00.000-08:00

Amaryllis 2010 is a little obscene in it's enthusiasm. No sign of 2009 blooming yet.

stitching

2010-01-03T13:18:00.001-08:00

A little stitching work got done yesterday before heading to town on account of no dog food in the house, which had lead to a breakfast of Soba noodles with peanut butter for the dogs that morning. It was actually their 3rd creative meal of the New Year, all of which was much more exciting to them than their normal “healthy“ dog food.
Today, dogs properly feed, I stitched a good half day and I am looking forward to hot white bean soup cooked on the wood stove and fresh baked bread after a walk home in howling cold wind.

stitching

2010-01-01T14:37:00.000-08:00

I will be stitching every day, most likely, until the 12th to finish a new piece for the "7th International Fiber Biennial" opening in Febuary at Snyderman- Works Gallery .

Sunday's Family Dinner

2010-01-01T14:15:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday Jerry and I did a sit down dinner for 18, his family and my daughter, all squeezed into our little house. We made marinated broiled leg of lamb, mashed potatoes, a clementine/radicchio/baby greens salad and fresh baked onion rye bread followed by zabaglione with thawed red raspberries we picked last summer. The wine was great and the dinner was a fantastic success, after much deliberating over what to cook that everyone would eat.

Houston

2009-12-12T17:25:00.000-08:00

The Japanese Tea House in Herman Park.

Galveston

2009-12-11T13:09:00.000-08:00

A little side trip on our visit to Houston, to walk on the beach and look around.

The New Wood Rack

2009-12-11T06:48:00.001-08:00

Jerry finished the new wood rack just in time for our first snow and then we got out of town and headed south for a week, missing our first real winter weather I hear. I love the new wood rack, the posts are made of locally fallen black locust that Jerry milled with a chain saw and the tin roof is salvage material. It's very near both doors, much more accessible in the dark and foul weather than the main wood rack behind the house, and this spring when we renovate the brick patio I think it will be beautiful with the stacked wood. Between the original and the new wood rack there's enough space for a winter’s worth of dry wood, we are hoping.

Some new padded pouches

2009-12-10T06:48:00.000-08:00

I was sewing like crazy before leaving for Houston last weekend, mostly making pot holders for The Muse and pouches for Madison Arts Exchange. Next week I'll be adding these pouches to my Etsy Shop. I still have to photograph them as I couldn't get a good photo shoot in before leaving.

walking along the river

2009-11-22T17:07:00.000-08:00

It's so warm here, for late November, things are still alive and it seems like the light is different, shifting to winter as the landscape remains suspended and the leaves are rotting in the water a lot longer creating fascinating surfaces.

I made a photo series of water surface images today on my walk that I am posting to Facebook.

Trees reflected in water

2009-11-20T17:54:00.000-08:00

The Potomac River and C&O Canal in Brunswick Md near my house, looking like a fairy tale.

Happy Birthday Mom!

2009-11-12T18:57:00.000-08:00

It's in the mail.

New Hand Stitch Work

2009-10-29T13:03:00.000-07:00

"Undertow" 10"x 15"
Hand stitched glass beads, hand embroidery and acrylic paint on linen.

Well, my sabbatical from the studio lasted a good long time, much longer than I realized.

Partly I’ve been Gardening a lot since spring, mostly for clients, but also getting my Studio garden ready for a local Garden Tour, which was great, and we grew almost all of our produce this summer in our home garden and I have a little public garden I take care of as a volunteer. I also made a lot of handmade pot holders and bags to sell. All this is under the theory of diversifying my income stream to not just rely on Art sales. And I’ve been taking a lot of photographs, just for the pleasure of it. As much fun as I’ve been having, it was absolutely wonderful to get back in the studio and start a new piece this month.

I love this smaller format right now and want to do a series tentatively titled “Postcards from the Garden” but maybe not that sappy sounding. This piece does have flowers, as do many of my pieces, however I am more interested in pattern, the tension of the decorative quality and the process of tending. Well, more on all this later. I have a pie to bake.

A wonderful fall in Maryland

2009-10-29T12:44:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday was a perfect, warm, sunny, fall day. We drove the back roads near home and bought apple and cider. Tonight I am going to make an apple pie, yum!

Beautiful New Pot Holders

2009-10-07T13:02:00.000-07:00

This is a particularly nice batch of pot holders, featuring some great vintage fabrics. There heading to the Muse tomorrow. If your in Frederick Md, check them out, they make great presents.

A Little Bag Attention

2009-09-30T18:16:00.000-07:00

Lilithevy has a wonderful Esty collection that includes one of my bags posted on her Blog. Thank you Eve!

Featured Bag

2009-09-29T09:07:00.000-07:00

Joline of blackmustard has posted her list of top 12 bags on etsy, which includes my Flap Bag- short taupe and lime linen. Be sure to check out this wonderful collection. Thank you Joline.

New Pot Holder

2009-09-22T15:10:00.000-07:00

I'll be listing new Pot Holder on Etsy in the next few days.

Weekend in Up State NY

2009-09-22T10:29:00.000-07:00

It was a perfect weekend and so very needed, we were really over done and hanging out in this wonderful space and garden Chris and Vicky are creating was magical.

It’s so interesting as a gardener driving 6 hours North and experiencing what at home will not come for another month or so. The night we arrived was the first light frost enough to loose the basil and 2nd night a heaver frost, which we prepared for. Then traveling back to Maryland and finding our basil at its peak of production, note-to-self, deal with the basil soon. It’s not like you forget, but the graphic reminder sure made an imprint.

We brought home lots of onions right out of the ground (for now and to store) and purple and red potatoes as well as collected seeds of 1/2 a dozen flowers that I'll be starting next spring for our gardens and clients.

High visibility Art

2009-09-10T08:21:00.000-07:00

Michael Bopst stopped by yesterday evening to show us his latest "Death Mask" painting, painted directly on the side of his van. Truly inspiring!

Evening River

2009-09-04T13:16:00.001-07:00

Train Station

2009-09-04T13:14:00.000-07:00

Jerry's Beautiful Spot

2009-09-04T13:11:00.000-07:00

Padded Pouches

2009-09-03T12:41:00.000-07:00

A new set of Padded Pouches made of fine vintage fabrics with vintage buttons, will be in my Etsy shop soon and at the Muse in Frederick MD.

Sewing Studio reorganized

2009-08-13T19:19:00.000-07:00

I reworked the whole space this week. It's been a year since I started sewing and I am a lot more focused on how the space should work and what I need and don't need in it. It's a real pleasure to come in now and get to work. Unfortunately the domino effect means I have to rework my office now to incorporate a space for shooting artwork, which just got booted out of the sewing studio.

First tomato harvest of the year

2009-08-11T07:24:00.000-07:00

Besides the tomato in our garden, which there are quite a lot just starting to come in, this week we have gotten a wind fall from a wonder friend's garden that Jerry helps tend. We are very grateful for food gardens this year as almost all of our fruits and vegetables have been coming from ours or neighbors yards. While our next door neighbor has been on vacation, I've been harvesting masses of black berries and red raspberries freezing them along with the tomatoes for the fall and winter. Vacationers garden care is something I want to do alot more of!

Everything being fresh and perfectly ripe and unusual varietals compared to the grocery store and all the fresh herbs which are truely inspiring for putting together flavors is part of it. Living so satisfyingly and cheaply in very tight times or more precisely experiencing the true value of your labor and it's relation ship to well being is just as important perhaps.

A new batch of pot holders

2009-08-01T14:02:00.000-07:00

I found some printed tea towel calendars from the 60's and thought they would make great pot holders and found a big piece of fat woven blue cotton material for padding, so I've got alot of blue related pot holders now.

Installing the window

2009-07-17T11:46:00.000-07:00

Jerry fooling around, which is good to see as he has been working hard for days.

Pedro and Wayne were wonderful enough to came over to help with final prep and heavy lifting. There was a lot of dance in the window frame work.

It turns out there are 3 layers of siding on this little house. German Lathe, cedar shingle and aluminum siding.

The main event.

Securing the window.

A new batch of bags

2009-07-13T13:57:00.000-07:00

Finally some new bags! These will go to the Book Crossing down the street from me. Then I'll start working on filling up my beleaguered Etsy shop.

Big progress on the new window

2009-07-13T13:29:00.000-07:00

Jo stopped by to help out.

They're getting the header into position.

Jerry did all the new framing for the window today, lot's of work! There's a lot of previous termite damage in the wall.

Enough work, it's way past cocktail hour.

Dear C&O park service

2009-07-09T11:57:00.000-07:00

It is very curious to me that this would be more interesting than cattails and the other wetland plants that were growing here just days ago.

Close up of area.

Some of the cattails and lillys that remain.

Studio Garden

2009-07-05T12:39:00.000-07:00

This is my most wonderful surprise. I thought I was getting a deep red gladiola, but this most amazing deep purple has bloomed. I love it.

The 17 year old cat. He has decide to eschew bathing and since he is the King he does as he pleases and that's okay.

p.s. Brunswick has been getting some press recognizing some of the creative people who live here.

The beginning of the next phase of renovation

2009-07-05T12:14:00.000-07:00

We rescued this wonderful window with a central picture window flanked by casement windows. It will become the dinning room window looking out on the grotto garden.

The before view, with the almost finished bump out with french doors.

Getting started by removing siding (revealing cedar shingles) to make the cut for the larger window.

Chesapeake Bay 6/26/09

2009-06-29T09:41:00.000-07:00

A beautiful and peaceful walk after a very sad and surreal funeral.

coffee grounds

2009-06-25T13:09:00.000-07:00

One year of putting coffee grounds at the base of the hydrangea to make it blue didn't really work. However, they've shifted to a more brilliant pink.

lot's of great salads this year

2009-06-25T13:07:00.000-07:00

making pot holders

2009-06-10T09:39:00.000-07:00

Brunswick's first Garden Tour

2009-05-27T14:47:00.000-07:00

My studio garden will be on the garden tour. It's only taken me 24 years to get it looking okay. I am very grateful for who ever dreamt this up and made it happen, it's a great idea and I really hope it goes well and gets bigger every year.

2009-05-20T08:38:00.000-07:00

please email me to RSVP

Check out this story!

in the garden

2009-05-19T05:46:00.001-07:00

These photos are from Jerry's and my garden, going into it's 3rd season and looking good. I am taking care of 3 gardens this wonderful cool rainy spring.

Art in Brunswick

2009-04-28T18:41:00.000-07:00

"Rain" 10" x 14" $150
"Bloom" 10" x 14" $200 SOLD
"Dreams of Plans to Come" 12" x 16" $300
all three are acrylic paint on linen, unframed

These paintings will be on view at Sundance Art & Framing, 18W. Potomac St, Brunswick Md, May through June. An openning reception will be held on May 1st, 2009, 6-9 pm to meet the Artists.

Seattle city scape

2009-04-23T07:16:00.000-07:00

Seattle trip

2009-04-23T06:58:00.000-07:00

The week we were there it rained a lot. It was different than the east, the light was always changing and the rain never stopped us from going outside.

The Glass Museum, Tacoma Washington

2009-04-21T15:04:00.000-07:00

Our trip last week to Tacoma/Seattle was quiet wonderful. Tacoma, which I had never been to, was such as surprise, a wonderful town and this is what greets you if you arrive like we did on the city bus.

2009-04-08T14:04:00.000-07:00

Waste Not Expo

2009-03-25T11:11:00.000-07:00

I will be a vendor at this event selling pot holders and bags made with recycled fabrics.

"The Marriage"

2009-03-25T10:20:00.000-07:00

Well it's done with the exception of a a little tweaking. Yesterday, I had to tear out the lower left corner, a very time consuming stitch to make and also to tear out! Quite frustrating as I was so close to being done yesterday and the work to get ready for handmade shows this week end and next is really pressing on me.

Progression VI

2009-03-24T15:09:00.000-07:00

Progression V

2009-03-19T15:42:00.000-07:00

If your wondering why there are no new bags in my Etsy shop it's because I've been working like crazy to finish this piece asap. More on that later. I think maybe a day or two more and it will be done. Today I am calling it The Marriage, however it's had a few other names ...maybe more on that later, too.

Progression IV

2009-03-17T15:50:00.000-07:00

This photo certainly does not do justice. Basically, I feel all the work so far has set the stage something to happen.

Progression III

2009-03-12T15:57:00.000-07:00

I am really liking how this piece is going. it's not out of the woods yet, we'll see what happens next.