It's a Bird...It's a Plane

Oregon locals will know about the place we went yesterday in McMinnville. It's called the Evergreen Air Museum, and it houses Howard Hughes' "Spruce Goose" built in California with the idea of flying equipment and soldiers during World War II. It's a huge thing that was able to take off and land on water (or land).

Hughes only got the chance to try it once, and only briefly, in Long Beach, California. My husband was actually there to see it fly. He lived in Long Beach at the time, and school was let out so the locals could go watch. I think Jim was around 12 years old at the time.

You can get some idea of its size from this photo.

The museum's a neat place with all sorts of military and other kinds of aircraft, and videos and interactive demonstrations throughout. Kids (like me) can actually play on a helicopter flight simulater, and watch themselves crash when they goof up the controls.
Here's a pic of just the tail of the Spruce Goose. I couldn't fit the whole thing into one frame no matter how hard I tried.
Here's the nose with a plane next to it that may give a sense of scale.



This is an old smoke jumper's kit. Remember Spam? Nummy num.










This mural is painted on the wall in the flight simulator area.

Don't you think this would make a terrific tattoo? Maybe for my 65th birthday?

After the museum visit, we went next door to their HUGE brand new IMAX theater. We watched a film in 3D about the Apollo moon walk missions, narrated by Tom Hanks, and dizzyingly realistic. It was great.

Cockeyed Concoction

Well, this concoction didn't end up quite the way I had first envisioned it, but hey...who ever said I had to follow my own rules? Truth be told, it was going to be bigger, but I ran out of deep purple fabric, so I had to make do.

This is third in my "Connections" series, and I'm already dreaming up the next idea. I think there are drugs for this kind of obsessive compulsive disorder.

The piece is 44" x 33", and these photos show the whole thing and a detail.

Yippity Skippity!

I am not good at rejection, in fact I'm very easily devastated by rejection. So it was with steely guts and fierce trepidation that I entered my quilt "Connections I" in the Pacific International Quilt Festival to be held at the Santa Clara Convention Center in California this October.

In today's mail was an envelope from them. I braced myself, opened it, and was thrilled to read, "We are pleased to tell you that "Connections" has been selected..."

Wow! I'm so excited! I have been thinking I should do more with my pieces than folding them and stacking them in a closet, or occasionally selling one or giving one away. I guess this is a start in that direction.

Here's the final product as it will be displayed at the show.

The Bridges of Linn County

The weather today is absolutely perfect. 65 or so degrees, clear blue sky, and no wind. Some of the trees have hints of Fall color. We decided we had to get out and about, so we went for a drive to find all of the covered bridges within about a 20 mile radius of where we live. What fun!

Here are a few photos from the day.

That's Jim walking over for a closer look at the Shemanek Bridge.













Here's the inside roof of the same bridge.
















This one is the Larwood Bridge. It was built in the 1930's.
































And here's the Hoffman Bridge, also built in the 1930's.

They're all starting to look sort of alike I think.

We got lost trying to find a couple of them, so we decided to save them for another day.

I love the lines and shapes in these buildings.

Beautiful Boobs

I've been dragging out my old stuff so that Jim could photograph it for me. I thought it'd be fun to show everyone this one (full size and a couple of detail shots).

Don't forget to click on any image on this blog to get a better look.

Her bra I made from an old dish towel. I had recently had a mammogram, so I guess I needed an artistic catharsis of some sort. (Not really. It was just fun.)

The piece is about 19" x 30".

I finally finished the "Connections II" quilt yesterday. It wound up being about the same size as the "Connections I" piece. Here it is.



I already have my keep-me-awake idea for the next in the series.

I'll keep you posted.

Blast from the Past

My husband Jim recently photographed most of my art quilts, including this one. These photos show the whole piece, and two detail shots.











This is the very first art quilt I ever made. It's hard to believe I've been doing this for almost ten years! My goals and style sure have changed.

On this quilt, the pieces were drawn onto freezer paper, cut, and fused to the background with Wonder Under. Then I stitched around each piece to stabilize the raw edges.















I got the fabrics at the Salvation Army (men's shirts mostly). Now, I almost exclusively do abstracts, or at least non-pictorial pieces, I no longer fuse anything, but piece everything together, and I've become much too much of a fabric snob to scrounge at thrift stores.
I want the best materials I can find!

I do think about doing figures again, but I'm not keen on fusibles any more. I understand they can harm fibers over time. Who wants to spend that much time on something that'll self-destruct and disintegrate?

So my figures now (according to my new rules) have to be pieced together or appliqued on. Very time consuming, but a good challenge.