Come to the Opening! May 7, 5pm

Bird's Eye View Opens in Camas, WA on May 7

High Fiber Diet's new exhibit, Bird's Eye View, debuts at the Camas Public Library Second Story Gallery May 7 - 31. Pieces by Terry Grant, Mary Arnold, Amy Hahn, Carol Heist, Caroline Burton, Diane Born, Mary Goodson, Christina Brown, Bonnie Bucknam, Gerrie Congdon, Shirley MacGregor, Karen Miller, Deanna Robinson, and Laura Jaszkowski are included in the exhibit. The opening reception is Friday, May 7th, 5 - 7 pm at the Gallery, which is located at 625 NE Fourth Avenue in Camas, Washington. High Fiber Diet is affiliated with Columbia FiberArts Guild, a Portland-based group of fiber artists living in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Shown above is Coastlines by Bonnie Bucknam (photo by Mark Frey).

San Diego Sky

January 24, 2010 - An Amazing Sky in San Diego

Knitting Socks

Lately I am obsessed with knitting socks.  I can't stop buying sock yarn. Yet another thing to collect!  I have enough yarn to knit socks for the next 4 years.  This is the 10th pair of socks that I've finished.  They were knit from the toe up with a free pattern by Wendy Johnson, Sprucy Lucy.  The pattern is great, but with this tweed-y sock yarn it doesn't show up enough for all the effort .  I'm a relatively new knitter, so this is one of the things I'm learning - how to pick the right yarn for the pattern and visa versa. I love the yarn though.  It's Zauberball.  Watching the colors change makes the knitting more interesting.  There are no repeats in the order of the colors, that I can tell, so each sock comes out different.  I like that!

Japanese Garden on Friday

Grama and Grandpa Rumsey

Bonnie Ceicil Jones Rumsey

Charles Robert Rumsey

Two of my favorite bloggers, Linda from Anchorage and Terry from Portland, have recently posted family photos and talked about their roots.  It made me think I should post these photos of my Grama and Grandpa, my mother's parents.  Here they look so young and hopeful. My grandmother was doe-eyed and gentle but strong, my grandfather bright-eyed and optimistic.  When I knew them, they were always cheerful and kind. My grandmother is wearing an engraved pocketwatch around her neck.  That watch is still in the family. 

My grandfather was known as "C.R." or "Bob".  He owned a gas station/auto repair shop in Long Beach, California.  I never saw it.  Although we lived in Long Beach, I think by the time I was old enough to remember, my grandfather had retired.  He managed the apartment building where he and my grandmother lived.  He was a gardener, and the tiny flowerbeds were full of roses.  On a trellis covering the whole wall of the garage, he grew sweet peas.  I always think of Grandpa when I see those flowers.  He died when I was in the 4th grade.  I put sweet peas in his coffin at the funeral.

C.R. Rumsey's Complete Service

Their apartment was tiny. It was like playing in a doll house for me. My grandmother had canaries, and there was a closet under the stairs which was full of treasures and odd old things.  She kept buttons in an old coffee can. I can't tell you how many ways I devised to sort those buttons! How easily entertained we were as children.

The apartment building was a California "court", two rows of apartments with a walkway down the middle. The garage, storage and laundry rooms were across the back of the property on an alley. There was a staircase toward the back of the court that led up to the roof, which was long and flat and blacktopped. One summer night my sister, my cousin and I laid flat on the blacktop and watched a meteor shower.

Tulips from My Dentist

Tulips from My Dentist

Inspiration

I was going through some photos this morning and ran across these.  I took them at the Chinese Garden in Portland, Oregon in December of 2007.

They were the inspiration for my quilt Reflection which is now touring with Quilt National 2009.  I didn't try to interpret the photos literally, but the mood of the photos informed my work.  Those ripple-y reflections in the water were the reason I chose the cretan stitch for the handwork, or handwerk, in my case.  I need to remind myself:  possibilities are limitless.  Look around, where ever you are, every day.  You never know where you'll find the next inspiration. (Quilt photos by Mark Frey.)

Easter Week in Guatemala

Easter is not one of my big holidays.  But two years ago I was in Guatemala on the Nancy Crow Textile Tour during Easter week.  The colors and pageantry were fabulous!  Every village we visited had processions and pageants celebrating Easter week.  Here are a few photos, not necessarily my best (the Mayan people are not particularly fond of having their pictures taken without their permission, so I've tried to limit most of the photos here to backs and indistinct faces).  This will give you just a hint of the richness of tradition in the Mayan highlands near Lake Atitlan.  Happy Easter!

Mayan woman and baby in tradional dress, San Andres Xecul

Women carrying a float in the Easter week pageant, San Andres Xecul

Mayan women in tradional dress, San Andres Xecul

Palm archway entrance to the church at San Andres Xecul

Onlookers kneeling in the street to pray, carrying palm fronds for the Easter week pageant, San Andres Xecul

Offering of fruit, flowers, and sawdust painting, Easter week pageant, Quetzaltenango

Hundreds of town residents turn out in purple robes to carry the floats during one of the Easter week pageants, Quetzaltenango

Men carry a float through the market during Easter week, Chichicastenango

Another view of the float, Chichicastenango market

Homes are decorated with plam fronds and purple banners, Easter week in Zunil

Zunil

Zunil

Villagers work on a sawdust painting in front of the church in Zunil