Rev Robin's Reflections

Rugs & Dogs

2010-11-16T14:05:00.001-08:00

Once again time has run away from me. Summer has come and gone. The garden was challenged by cool weather this summer but we did add blueberries, raspberries, some fruit trees and a few other things.

Here is the "Mini Sarouk" pattern that I recently finished – except for whipping and binding. This project was a joy from day one until the last loop was pulled. There may be some minor revisions…or I may just leave it as is. Now I just have to get around to dyeing yarn to bind the darned thing. And maybe figure out how to make fringe.

One reason I have been particularly busy is the addition of a new family member: Sasuke was born on August 4, 2010 in Salem, Oregon. We drove up on September 25 to bring him home and he has certainly won me over. He is a very sweet puppy…and smart! I believe that he is a healer and I hope to be able to write about that at some time.

Introducing Sasuke to 8-year old Musashi - who has been an "only" dog for two years now – was more traumatic than I had anticipated. Sasuke came to us weighing in at TWO pounds and Moosie thought he was a squeaky toy. After a week or so of constant supervision, they are now the best of buddies. They play and sleep and do doggy things together and really seem to love one another. Yep…change…takes time…

Catching up….Hooking

2010-05-10T10:58:00.001-07:00

Mid-April almost always finds me at my favorite rug hooking camp at Friends by the Sea in Rockaway Beach on the northern Oregon Coast. This was my 10^th year to attend in the 15+ years that I have lived on the West Coast. It's always such fun to see the same wonderful women I've seen year after year.

What a joy to have one's only task be to hook and create and learn. The food is wonderful and "cinnamon break" mid-morning is always a treat. This year my classroom was in the Lodge which is a great spot away from the bustle of the other classrooms.

My teacher was Carol Fegles and she is so gracious and generous. I took a trip to Eugene about a week before camp (yep, cutting it close!) to discuss my project and get some ideas for color-planning and dyeing. I decided to take the plunge and use Prochem dyes. I have used Cushings for years simply because when I started out I inherited a shoebox full of them. It seems that I never have one color to complete a formula so am constantly buying more of these annoying little envelopes. Carol ended up scanning some samples and sending them to me via email. From there, I chose a few colors, placed an order and within 3 days had my dyes. Of course this was over Easter weekend which is a super-busy time. So just days before camp began I was hustling to get dyeing done – some of it was still drying when I packed it up to drive up the coast.

This was a wonderfully relaxing rug camp – a real zen experience. Much of that had to do with the atmosphere Carol creates in class and much of it had to do with the project. I had decided to hook Jeanne Benjamin's "Mini Sarouk" (New Earth Designs). Her patterns are top-notch – on the grain, very clear, and high quality backing. I LOVE this pattern. I am really only using 3 colors – Forest Green, Gold/Toffee, and Evergreen…the "white" is a light wash of Straw (which ended up being dyed in an electric roaster at camp).

Here is what I got done at Camp...this may take a life time...

Carol introduced me to a #2 cut – oh my! I fell in love! I've done a lot of #3 (3/32 inch) and have ventured in to 4-6…but never #2! It's like 2 threads…amazing. Of course I had to buy a new cutter head for my Bliss and was shocked to find they have doubled in price. Unfortunately when I got home I couldn't find the darned thing even after massive searches. Thanks to the generosity of hookers everywhere, Saundra from Delaware, sent me hers as she had never used it. I will be eternally grateful! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

10 Minute Challenge Update

2010-05-10T10:57:00.001-07:00

I've been really consistent in keeping up with the 10-minute challenge. This is a pattern called "Water Nymph" that I must have started over ten years ago and had about 1/5 done. I kept trying to get the background darker and in so doing ended up felting the wool too much so it was very difficult to pull through the burlap. To top it off, I was using a #6 cut which is HUGE for me. I remembered that I had bought a Hartman hook back at Cape May so I dug that out and voila! It was much easier to do. Now that it's done, I kind of like this rug!

Catching up…Quilting

2010-05-10T10:38:00.001-07:00

Time…never seems to be enough of it. Or perhaps there is simply an abundance of wonderful things in my life that continuously overflow. I am grateful that so many activities bring me enjoyment. It is a constant challenge to be diligent in discerning what is mine to do – and what is not! I am learning to say "no" to those things that do not make my heart sing and know that these same activities may be just the blessing that someone else is looking for in their life. Release it. Let it go. And on to the fun.
So many projects since my last post!
Here is the paper piecing put together – not sure what it will become. There are many possibilities.

Mid-March, my friend Sue and I took another class at the local quilt shop in how to use a new product called "Texture Magic". You sew it to your fabric using either a grid pattern or meandering and then steam it and it crinkles up – magic! It was a bit tricky to do but we had fun. Here is the tote I made during the class:

I do enjoy quilting and would LOVE to do more of it but I am trying to sharpen my focus on hooking at the moment…and then there is knitting, beading, scrapbooking, maskmaking…and on and on it goes.

Paper-Piecing Magic

2010-02-28T16:36:00.001-08:00

Mid-February found me taking a paper-piecing quilt class at the local quilt shop. This always looks waaayyy too precise for me but a friend was taking it so I went along for the fun of it. What a GREAT technique! I fell in love with paper piecing. It's absolute magic. All one has to do is follow step by step and TRUST. Ahhhh, maybe it's not so easy.

Here are the two blocks we completed in class…

Now here's the tricky part. Paper piecing is really easy BUT one must plan in advance. Carefully sketching out the fabric placement, cutting all the pieces and arranging them in order takes some concentration and time. But it is well worth it. Here's the first triangle for a piece I'm working on. I just cut out and sewed the fabric for one section to see if I could even do it all on my own! Yesterday I cut out the fabric for five more triangles and hopefully this will work for the design I sketched.

So … here's the problem. Time. I need more of it. This month I also spent a day working on masks for a mask-making party that is coming up in March. And then there's scrapbooking. And don't forget beading. And the list goes on and on, Oh…and then there's work!

10 Minute Challenge

2010-02-28T16:19:00.001-08:00

I finished the Fall leaves mat at the end of January. It felt good to be hooking with a #3 fine cut again. It is much slower going but certainly more control in shading.

The next project I picked up was one with finches on a fence that had not been started. I started hooking a couple of flowers but for some reason was just very unhappy with them and finally set it aside. This is the point when I probablywould have tucked my hooking away and not get around to starting anything new. But having taken the 10 minute challenge I begrudgingly forged ahead.

I pulled out a piece called Water Nymph which I started quite a few years ago- probably more than 10. I put it away because in dyeing the background, I kept trying to get it darker so dyed and redyed until the wool felted too much. It is very thick - almost blanket-weight -and somewhat difficult to work with. When I was at Cape May a couple of years ago, I picked up a primitive coarse Hartman hook with a wide shaft and that has made the job a bit easier. Here is how it looked when I picked it up February 9. This is in a #6 cut and is moving along fairly quickly. How exciting!

Spring

2010-02-28T16:10:00.001-08:00

I just love that Spring arrives so early on the Oregon Coast. Last October I planted some bulbs in a planter – something I intend to do every here. This is one of the tulips that has bloomed over the past two weeks. Flinging her petals open to the sky and sun each day, and closing up at night, it is so lovely.

PowerUp! Webinar

2010-01-28T16:36:00.000-08:00

PowerUp! Webinar

Ten-Minute Challenge Update

2010-01-19T20:46:00.001-08:00

Despite an incredibly busy schedule these past few weeks, I have kept up with the ten-minute challenge and am particularly grateful for this commitment now. More days than not, the ten minutes are just that – ten minutes – but it keeps me moving forward. A great thing about all this is that I'm dealing with some really old UFOs or Un-Finished Objects. Without time to choose and color plan a new project I find myself picking up projects that were started in the past.
This is what I've been working on. It is from a mini-class I took at Rock River Rug Camp back in IL in 1988. We picked up some fall leaves, traced around them and hooked them. I had hooked about 4-5 strips – and in a #3 cut – that translates to 3/32" strips! I have no idea what wool I was using but I left those few strips in (on the tip of the large maple leaf). I've been using some shibori dyed wool that I never thought I would find a use for! Bright orange is not something I ever dye – thanks to Wanda Kerr for encouraging me to stretch during an online dye class she did last Spring.

10 Minute Challenge

2009-12-28T11:37:00.001-08:00

Amazing what can be accomplished when one simply makes the commitment to give a certain task attention for a small amount of time each day. I have completed the "Wood Rose" project, a pattern designed by Laura Pierce. Having taken the 10-Minute Challenge on September 21, I forged on when frustrated by trying to match dye formulas (note to self: take even better dye notes!), when I might not have otherwise done so. I was pleasantly surprised to find some yarn for whipping that perfectly matched the background wool.

Now I need to settle on my next project – perhaps one of those UFOs (Un-Finished Objects) I have stashed away in the back room. Heading into a busy time at work, I am tempted to take a break from the challenge, but just like going to the gym, I know it's easier to keep going than to take a break and try to start again!

Imagine what could be accomplished in every area of life if we just gave it a little bit of attention…

Christmas . . .

2009-12-28T11:14:00.001-08:00

Well, even though most of the cookies have been consumed, I did take a couple more pictures. These cashew cookies are another standby favorite. The recipe is from a wonderful woman, one of my first mentors – "Cillar". She was a second (or third or once removed or something or other!) cousin to my mother. I always saw her as such a free spirit. She died way too young – in her late 40's perhaps? My first degree was in early childhood education because I so admired the work she did with Head Start as it was beginning in the 60's. She and her three children lived in Iowa City; her husband was a funeral director and as kids we used to love playing in the funeral home. Her daughter Melissa was the maid of honor at my first wedding. One time while visiting her, everyone had somewhere they needed to be and I was left alone at home all evening. Cillar handed me a little book that she thought I might enjoy reading to pass the time. That book was "Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah" by Richard Bach and it resonated deeply within me. Amazing how a cookie can take you down memory lane.
Christmas was very quiet and very enjoyable. Dante went to Medford to visit his mom and friends we usually spend holidays with were out of town. A dear friend came over and we prepared prawns the size the rib eye steaks, homemade pasta with leeks, and salad. It always comes back to food, doesn't it? Sue helped me work on a current quilt project…a perfect way to spend an afternoon.
We've been talking about playing mahjong for years and Christmas Day seemed like the perfect time to learn. Takashi hasn't played in nearly 30 years, claiming we needed to have a special table to do so. About four years ago, we bought the materials to build a table top that would sit on top of a card table so we dug out the materials along with the mahjong set, downloaded some tips on playing from the internet and found a book at the library that explained Japanese rules in English. Takashi has a well-worn book but since it was all in Japanese we weren't trusting him to guide us.

Mah jong is an incredibly complex game and we didn't get far…but we will try again…maybe.
My favorite Christmas activity is always the Christmas Eve Candle Lighting service. There is something magical about the story, the music, and the candles that touches me every year. And it just isn't Christmas until I've heard "O Holy Night".

Christmas Baking

2009-12-07T17:03:00.001-08:00

Christmas baking has started early … we're going to a Christmas party/dinner tomorrow and bringing dessert. I haven't made my mom's wonderful "Mrs. Claus's Fudge" in years. Oh my! It's just as wonderful as I remember.
I do make cherry coconut bars every year – at least one double batch. I wonder where mom got this recipe? It is absolutely wonderful…here it is:
Pastry: 1 cup flour    ½ cup butter    3 tsp. confectioner's sugar
Filling: 2 slightly beaten eggs    1 tsp. vanilla    1 cup sugar    ¾ cup chopped nuts
¼ cup flour    ½ cup coconut    ¼ tsp. salt    ½ cup quartered maraschino cherries
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix flour, butter, and confectioner's sugar with hands until smooth. Press into 8 inch square pan. Bake 25 minutes.
Mix filling ingredients. Spread over top of baked pastry (no need to cool) Bake 25-30 minutes or until browned.
I always make a double batch and put it in a 13X9 pan.
And no…I'm not sharing ;-)

10 Minute Challenge Update

2009-12-07T16:55:00.001-08:00

Continuing my commitment to the 10-Minute Hooking Challenge has been…a challenge. I am grateful that I made the commitment during sabbatical in order to establish the habit before my return to work. While the 10 minutes is now closer to actually being 10 minutes than the 90 minutes it was turning out to be, I still see progress and it keeps me motivated. I must remind myself that much of my inspiration for Sunday talks comes when otherwise engaged in creative pursuits such as hooking, quilting, etc. Why do I always seem to make "work" be difficult?
So here is the current project that I started November 9. It would have been completed over a week ago had I not had to struggle with dyeing more background. After several tries, I got some that was just a tad bit lighter – it worked well in the center of the piece. Today I redyed some a bit darker to use around the edges. I think this will work…hooray!

Dyeing Frustration

2009-12-01T21:41:00.001-08:00

Here is the progress on my latest 10 Minute challenge rug.

Unfortunately I ran out of background wool – arrgghh! I have notes and was fairly certain that I knew which formula this was – the piece I had been using was something I dyed when playing around with the "wandering" dye method last Spring. The color is off…too bright. It is simply Cushings "wine" over gray Dorr wool and is quite beautiful but not the same as I've been using. After further digging through notes, I think perhaps that was wrong formula…should be wine over light blue followed by mulberry. Hopefully I can carve out enough time to quickly dye that tomorrow.

As I was hooking this piece, it became evident fairly early on that I would not have enough wool for the background but knowing that I had the formula, I kept hooking. I did hook the background at all different points around the pattern in case whatever I dyed was a tad bit off but as you can see, this is just too different. Back to the dye pots!

Entrelac

2009-12-01T21:21:00.001-08:00

Finally took a picture of the entrelac scarf. This is such a fun pattern! I am not much of a knitter but this is do-able even for me – just don't look too closely.

Entrelac Distraction & Thanksgiving

2009-11-28T20:40:00.001-08:00

I haven't been posting for a few weeks but I have a multitude of excuses, the first one being – entrelac! I've never been much of a knitter – every scarf seems to turn into a triangle and I never knew how to correct mistakes or go back and make adjustments. About one year ago, my dear (and VERY patient!) friend, Sue Whitmore was actually able to teach me to knit socks. I was hooked! I've made about 7-8 pairs this year. Then this Spring while in our local yarn shop, The Wool Company, (a wonderful shop and the owners are delightful), I saw this very unique scarf using entrelac technique. Entrelac is a knitting technique used to create a textured diamond pattern. While the end result resembles basket-woven strips of knitted fabric, the actual material comprises interconnected squares on two different orientations. Check out a tutorial for this scarf at http://knittyotter.typepad.com/otterknits/2007/03/entrelac_scarf_.html. After many read-throughs and a couple of false starts, I enlisted Sue's help once again. After a couple of afternoons of knitting and ripping out, I think we've finally got it! It's such fun but requires quite a bit of attention in the beginning. I haven't taken a picture yet but will do so soon. Just don't look too closely!

The main reason I have not been posting is that I returned to church – yep, sabbatical time is over. I attended last week for our annual Thanksgiving breakfast and Gratitude service. It's one of my favorites. Whoever wishes to do so is given the opportunity to express their gratitude or share a story. It is a touching and inspirational service. Afterward, we decorated the church for Christmas since tomorrow is the beginning of Advent. Here's my Board President…

Another reason I love Thanksgiving is that it is our wedding anniversary. From my wonderful husband:

On Thanksgiving 1998, Takashi and I were married on the back patio of my childhood home in St. Charles, IL. All three of Takashi's kids flew out from OR & CO, my brother and his family came from VA and my sister and her husband came from MN. Fortunately Linda is Methodist pastor so we were able to be very relaxed about the whole thing.

This Thanksgiving was small in number but huge in food...just 5 of us. The turkey with apple-cranberry glaze was brined using kosher salt, crab boil spice packet (yes, I use that for pickles too) & coriander and was the best ever. The brining was accomplished with a large plastic bag in the canner using two other water filled bags engineered to allow the bird to be surrounded by the brine. The menu was rounded out with sausage-chestnut stuffing, mashed potatoes, giblet gravy, glazed pecan carrots, pear harvest salad, Bandon cranberries, fruit jello mold, and Parmesan knots. Then there was dessert - Dutch apple pie, pecan tassies, and pumpkin bread with cream cheese filling.

Speaking of apples - here's one that was left on the tree - Takashi picked it on Thanksgiving and we had to weigh it - one apple = 1 3/4 pounds!

Here's an uninvited holiday visitor who has been driving Musashi the Wonder Weiner dog crazy! He sits out on the deck bench and eats apples out of my bucket of apples to be used later...

Another Project

2009-11-09T21:54:00.001-08:00

This week I pulled out my sewing machine and some fabric I bought in Japan two trips ago. I decided to make a table runner and placemats. I topstitched around the edges but did not do any quilting on them yet. We used them on the table tonight and I still haven't decided if I want to do some "meandering" quilting on them or not.

The days are flying by and I feel a sense of urgency as the time to return to work draws near. This weekend I cleaned out more kitchen cabinets; we've cleaned out our garage, the backroom of the rental next door, the shed, and on and on it goes. Hmmm, I think Takashi may be happy to have me return to work!

More Fun in the Kitchen

2009-11-09T21:29:00.001-08:00

We have been enjoying some wonderful meals lately…rediscovering some old favorites and trying some new things. We all enjoy tabletop cooking. We've have been using an ancient butane burner that was getting crankier and bordered on being dangerous. Takashi found a great new burner online for only $20.00. We ended up buying three of them – one for our wonderful neighbor/tenant and two for us so we can more easily accommodate more dinner guests. Time to try some new dishes!

Nabe is "one pot" cooking prepared at the table in a clay pot with water or broth using a variety of ingredients . We've been fans of shabu shabu (swish swish) for years – we usually use beef, cabbage, tofu, mushrooms and a variety of other vegetables which are cooked in the pot and then dipped in ponzu sauce with some grated horseradish. We picked up some halibut down at the fish market and it was wonderful!

Last night we made chestnut rice, a traditional fall dish to go with our Korean tabletop barbecue (we used shrimp, peppers, oyster mushrooms, and shitake for the barbecue). I love chestnuts but roasting and shelling them is not easy!! It was worth it though – here's the rice with chestnuts and shitakes in the rice cooker with a little sake added to the cooking water. Yum!

Takashi also made mochi last night for the first time – pounded it by hand – he is looking online at this very moment for a mocha maker! It was delicious coated with kinako – roasted soybean flour. It disappeared before I could get a photo.

Fun in the Kitchen

2009-11-09T21:01:00.001-08:00

Having some extra time has allowed both Takashi and I the opportunity to play in the kitchen and it has been very satisfying. I've rediscovered the joy of making my own pasta – it started with the udon and has continued since then. And canning! Oh I had forgotten how much that feeds my soul. One thing I've never made is pickles. The growing season on the Coast is just not conducive to tomatoes but we had to at least try since we have the deer fence this year. We had a few ripe ones but mostly we had a ton of green tomatoes left. I had a few of the spices used for pickles but not all of them so went to the grocery store to pick up some premixed "pickling spices" – yowzers! – expensive! As I looked at the ingredients, I thought, "Hmmmm, this seems familiar." So I checked out the box of "crab & shrimp boil" – yep, almost identical and a fraction of the cost. What the heck, I decided to try it. I threw in some whole garlic cloves, fennel, onions, and jalapenos. Here's the result:

They looked okay…so I put one jar in the fridge and the rest in the pantry. Last week, we opened up the first jar and were amazed! These pickles are absolutely delicious! All three of us really liked them. Guess what we're planting next year?

Finished!

2009-11-09T20:20:00.001-08:00

This past week I completed the "Perfect Harmony" hooking. This was such a fun project. Glad to have the cording, whipping, and binding done. I may do a bit of embellishment at some later date – maybe some beads for shirt buttons….not sure…will see what transpires!
So it was time to start a new project in order to continue my 10 minute daily commitment. This pushed me up against my primary challenge – initiation! How to start a project so quickly…what to hook…how to color plan…what cut do I use??? Help! These are the times when I really miss having a hooking buddy or two nearby or access to a teacher – it is a tremendous help with motivation and inspiration.

Finally I decided to just pick something and do it – who says I have to continue with the same project, right? And if I don't like it , I can always do some "reverse hooking"! I finally chose a pattern by Laura Pierce – sweet little piece called "Wood Rose". Her patterns are lovely – wonderful high-quality backing. Grabbed some wool I dyed last Spring that really wanted to be background…going with very simple color plan and see what transpires.

10 Minute Challenge Update

2009-10-30T20:58:00.000-07:00

I have such good intentions about posting things on this blog…and somehow the days zoom by and it just hasn't happened. Ah well, there are no blog police….are there??

I have been faithful with the 10 minute hooking challenge since starting September 21. A lot has been accomplished over the past month! I've posted "Rufous" – this is a piece I hooked last April in honor of my sweet weiner dog that passed on August 2008. Upon finishing, I couldn't find any yarn that would even remotely match the background for whipping. The background was an "oddball" piece I picked up at Friends by the Sea and I had to stretch just to have enough for the hooking – nothing left over for finishing. And it's an odd blue – rather turquoise in most light. All the yarn in my stash and at our local yarn shop clashed terribly so I rolled up the hooking and tucked it away. This past week I decided to make another trip to the yarn store and this time they had some wool that at least coordinated with the background. So my challenge minutes were mostly spent finishing this mat. It's about 14X14. I did all the dyeing for the fur…

Also got most of the hooking done on "Perfect Harmony" and am posting a closeup photo of one of the girl's hair. This was a fun piece and I hope to get the finishing done on it this next week.

10 Minute Challenge

2009-10-21T14:15:00.001-07:00

Here's this week's progress….once I got started on the border, it went pretty fast. Now I need to redo some of the clothing and give a few kids some hair….almost there!

Homemade Udon

2009-10-21T14:04:00.001-07:00

The other day I dragged out my old pasta machine and we made udon. Udon are thick Japanese noodles, usually served in a broth. We love 'yakiudon' – fried noodles with veggies. This time we served our udon in soup with inari and tempura shrimp. Yummy!

I made my own noodles for years and during this sabbatical time it has been very satisfying to return to these activities that feed my soul (and my tummy). Later in the week we made spaghetti with fresh herbs from the garden. Life is good

Apples, Apples, Apples

2009-10-21T13:23:00.001-07:00

I grew up with apples…we had a small orchard in our backyard. Apple trees are great climbing trees. My best friend, Mary Grace, and I used to climb up in the tree and discuss the secrets of life when we were in grade school. But these trees…they produce a lot of…well, apples. And you have to do something with those apples. As kids, it was our job to pick up all the apples that had fallen off the tree and put them in buckets…ewwww, those were some stinky apples in hot, humid Illinois. I have two older (much older <ggg>) siblings so they constantly tricked me or threatened me into picking up the most apples.

Mom made the best apple squares – using lard! – and Dutch apple pies and of course, applesauce. One of my favorite memories is from kindergarten when she came to my classroom and helped us all make applesauce. I was so shy in kindergarten that I never spoke a word out loud so it was a memorable day for me to have the reassurance of my "mommy" with me, even if it was just that one day. In fact, I just recently came across the big thank-you letter our teacher/class wrote to mom.

So here I am now in a house that has an apple tree right off the back deck. Every year I make a few Dutch apple pies and then we pick up the rest and pile them up for the deer. This year the tree produced the most beautiful, biggest apples it ever has in over ten years. Being on sabbatical, I decided to return to my "past life" and made applesauce. Ahhh, the smells and tastes of childhood! And yes, there was still a wheelbarrow full of apples left for the deer, with more on the tree.

It is so satisfying to me to pick the fruit or vegetables and then can or freeze them for the long winter nights ahead. I've missed that over these past years I've been in Oregon. This year, I have pureed squash to freeze for making soup later, made pesto, blackberry jam…and now applesauce will go on the shelves. A taste of childhood. A taste of the past. Satisfying indeed.

Primary Colors

2009-10-12T11:38:00.001-07:00

Sir Isaac Newton developed the first circular diagram of colors in 1666 and countless scientists and artists have studied color since that time. For some reason, color theory stymies me. Maybe I just have a block about it – sorta like square roots and stuff like that. As soon as I start reading about primary, secondary, tertiary, complementary, analogous --- my eyes glaze over and my head screams, "I just want something pretty!"

A good "color sense" and some rudimentary knowledge of color theory goes far in designing rugs or quilts and especially in dyeing. I remember the first time Leota (the dear woman who taught me how too hook) pulled out a huge poster board with little snippets of color pasted all over in a circle and suggested that I memorize it. Hey, I just wanna make pretty rugs!
This week I wanted to dye some primary colors for the border of "Perfect Harmony" rug. I have lots of eight-value swatches in my stash but seem to be short on larger pieces of basic colors. It's difficult for my head to wrap around the concept that dyeing a piece of yellow wool means I have to pull out not only a yellow dye, but some red and blue dyes as well. April from Red Jack rugs calls yellow, red, and blue the "magic colors". I like that!

Imagine…all the colors in the universe can be created from just these three colors! Every beauteous shade and hue is a result of a unique combination of these magic colors. Each one of us is an individual, shining our light in different ways, beautiful and unique to ourselves. And yet, when it gets right down to it…we are all made up of the same magic qualities. I don't know how you might name the three constituent parts of ourselves – mind, body, spirit? Love, imagination, faith? Doesn't much matter…as Hans Hofmann said, "It is not the form that dictates the color, but the color that brings out the form."

Anyway….here's what the dye pot yielded last week (along with the two pics above)…

10 Minute Challenge - Week 2

2009-10-07T17:22:00.000-07:00

Here is progress after the second week of participating in the 10 Minute challenge. I am just squeaking by with wool for the sky - I have some much darker and lighter values remaining. I am realizing that I tend to use mostly middle values in my hooking. I've noticed that the #3-5 values always get used up first and I have lots of 1, 2, 7, 8 and some 6 leftover (a swatch is generally dyed with 8 values of a specific color formula). Yesterday was spent dyeing primary colors for the border...more about that later!

Notan - Light & Dark

2009-09-29T10:56:00.000-07:00

One of the online rug hooking groups to which I belong has a section called "Creation & Expansion". This group is moderated by an incredibly talented and generous "hooker", Wanda Kerr in Canada. (Here is her blog: http://www.wandaworksinwiarton.blogspot.com/).

Wanda comes up with some great exercises. Recently she introduced us to a concept called "Notan". From http://www.wikipedia.com/: Nōtan (濃淡) is a Japanese design concept involving the play and placement of light and dark next to the other in art and imagery. This use of light and dark translates shape and form into flat shapes on a two-dimensional surface. Nōtan is traditionally presented in paint, ink, or cut paper, but it is relevant to a host of modern day image-making techniques, such as lithography in printmaking, and rotoscoping in animation.

Here is my first try - this is cut from a 6X6 piece of black paper...all I can see when I look at it is a woman dancing, dressed as a gift box!

Next I did just a couple of little things which I think would be great in a hooked rug border...wonderful reminder to look for the light/dark in my rugs and other projects.

As I worked on this process, my brain grappled with the idea of positive/negative space and the play of light against dark. Sometimes as I was cutting, it was hard to remember what I was looking at - is this a black part? Or is it the edge of a white space?

Reminds me of life...sometimes I get so focused on the "dark" parts that seem to have so much more weight and form than the white spaces. Troubling situations, stresses, circumstances are all that I can see. But if I train my eye to see the "negative space" - the white/light parts - as well, I realize there is always peace at the center, a calm that underlies all that is happening on my palette of life. This blank page is mine to create the shapes I wish to see manifest in my life and in the world. It has been said that the imagination is the scissors of the mind - let me cut those shapes wisely, ever remembering the peace that is the foundation of my heart, mind, and soul.

10 Minute Challenge - Week One

2009-09-29T10:51:00.001-07:00

Wow! Amazing what can be accomplished with the commitment to spend 10 minutes each day hooking. This exercise has really reinforced the fact that my major obstacle is initiation - once begun, a project grabs my attention and away we go.

Here is the progress on "World of Harmony" after one week...

Musings on Foot Cream & Consciousness

2009-09-25T10:56:00.001-07:00

As I was rubbing some of the wonderful emu oil/shea butter foot cream that I made last week, into my feet this morning, it occurred to me that the properties of various oils used in making bath & body products are similar to the properties of the thoughts that are used in making up our consciousness.

Some oils are carrier oils - emu oil is like this, penetrating deep into the layers of skin and taking with it the healing properties of other oils with which it is combined. Rubbing some tea tree oil on your skin is good, but if you want it to really penetrate, emu oil will help "carry" it's healing properties deeper. Affirmations (essential oils) are great - they remind us of Truth with a capital "T". They point us in a positive direction. But unless they penetrate deep into our hearts, minds, and souls, their effect is somewhat superficial and not lasting. Consistently and persistently coming from a place of love rather than from fear acts like emu oil. Love carries positive affirmations deep into our consciousness, helping to heal and transform us.

Other oils are protectants - shea butter is particularly helpful for damaged skin, helping to restore elasticity. Prayer and meditation act as a protectant from the negativity and limited thinking we encounter in the media and in the world around us. It keeps our mind open and flexible - elastic.

So here's what I learned from my foot cream - remain centered in love, transform through positive affirmation and protect your sweet spirit with prayer & meditation.

10-Minute Challenge

2009-09-24T20:46:00.000-07:00

I started the 10-minute rug hooking challenge on Monday...as expected, 10 minutes most often turns into 45. Here is a picture of current rug at beginning of the challenge.

Unfortunately it became obvious last night that I would not have enough wool to complete the sky. Thus followed a frantic search for my notes from when I first dyed this wool - fortunately I was able to find them and I hit the dye pots today. I have been told for years to keep detailed notes whenever dyeing. I've not often done so, but this time I guess I listened. Whew! So many factors enter into the process - water temperature, placement and timing of adding various dyes, how frequently and vigorously the pot is stirred - but I think I got some usable "sky" wool. There are a couple of darker values that can be worked in....original "sky" is on the left - today's dyeing is on the right. Yippee! Tomorrow, it's back to hooking...10 more minutes.

Ten-Minute Rug Hooking Challenge

2009-09-21T14:15:00.000-07:00

Initiation - getting started on a project -any project! - has always been one of my greatest challenges. Once begun, I enjoy just about whatever I find myself doing...it's that first push to get started that trips me up.

April DeConick of Red Jack Rugs (http://www.redjackrugs.blogspot.com/) is a fellow blogger and rug hooker. She came up with a great idea to inspire hookers to keep focused and working - work on your rugs 10 minutes a day, six days a week (excluding holidays) for at least six months. Brilliant! Work" includes anything rug-related: designing, drawing, laying out, dyeing, hooking, binding, even shopping for materials.

Okay, it's time to get serious about getting into gear. I'm taking the challenge and I'm starting today! It may take me 10 minutes to gather my materials and get ready to hook - does that count? I know once I get started, I will very likely work for more than 10 minutes...okay, I'm off to begin the fun!

Still in the kitchen

2009-09-21T14:02:00.000-07:00

Still putzing around the kitchen... This time I've been "cooking up" some creams. Several years ago, with the help of LOTS of websites and online groups, I came up with something called "No More Owies" - it's a cream filled with wonderful oils and MSM that works like tiger balm without the smell or stickiness. I also came up with a hand and foot cream featuring bulgarian lavendar essential oil and tea tree oil. Both have emu oil as one of the main ingredients. Emu oil has amazing healing properties and penetrates deep into the tissue, thus acting as a carrier oil for other goodies, like MSM (a great anti-inflammatory). I also emu oil to make my own soap. I use shea butter in most everything I make as it is a great protectant.

At one time I had the idea I could sell these types of products and make a little extra money. Very quickly I realized that doing so takes all the fun out of the process so now I just make things for myself and a few friends. I enjoy the freedom of experimenting and playing around with different recipes and techniques.

Making lotions, creams, and soaps is just such a magical process. Who says oil and water don't mix? I love the way things change color and consistency, the effect of different temperatures, properties of different oils and all the little tricks that go into creating these wonderful things. And most of all...my feet are very happy!

Getting into Gear...in the Kitchen

2009-09-18T16:43:00.000-07:00

Just as it can be a challenge to "get it into gear" in the work setting, the same is true when taking a time away from work. I've found myself at loose ends, worried this precious time will slip by too quickly and I won't have accomplished anything (hmmmm, that's not the point of time off!), or that I won't use the time wisely in engaging in my favorite activities (you know, those things I always have LOTS of plans for, especially when I'm at my busiest). This is a lesson in relaxing into being, taking cues from Spirit, and doing whatever catches my fancy at the moment.

Cooking (or just putzing around in the kitchen) is one of my favorite ways to relax. I love the colors and how they change with heat, the aromas, the sizzle in the pan and the pure magic that takes place in the kitchen. And yes, of course, I love to eat!

We've been trying some new things lately (aren't we always?) - we harvested our shiso and and made shiso juice using my mother-in-law's recipe. The first challenge was to have Takashi translate it from Japanese and the second was to convert grams into ounces and then use the postal scale to measure ingredients. Shiso juice is a refreshing summertime drink - a concentrate is made by boiling the leaves and then adding sugar and citric acid. We've always had red shiso juice in Japan so we were curious to see what would happen with our green shiso. Yep...there's that magic I'm talking about! It turned out a beautiful shade of crimson, diluted with ice and water we have lovely and delious pink juice.

Next on the list of "we gotta try" was takoyaki or "octopus balls" (yeah, I know what you're thinking). This delicious street vendor food is like a crispy, yummy, gooey dumpling filled with octopus, ginger and other goodies. On our way home from Silverton last weekend, we stopped at the wonderful Asian grocery in Eugene - Sunrise Market, where we uncovered a takoyaki pan. After some searching in the backroom for the handle, we headed home and Sunday was takoyaki day.

After watching a number of youtube videos on how to make takoyaki, we headed for the kitchen. We had been forewarned that the first few batches might stick. They were right. So we have photos of them cooking, but not the finished product. Rest assured, the taste was not affected.

This week was also time to harvest basil and make pesto to freeze for use over the winter months. Basil can be finicky in our coastal climate but we bought quite a few plants this year and should be set for the winter.

Blessing of the Bogs

2009-09-13T16:50:00.000-07:00

Yep, I'm on sabbatical but I couldn't miss the 10th annual blessing of the cranberry bogs to kick off Bandon's Cranberry Festival. It was an incredible morning on the coast - sunny and warm. Not sure if it stayed that way or not as Takashi and I immediately headed up to Silverton so I could perform a wedding in the nearly 100 degree heat. I am SO happy to live in beautiful Bandon-by-the-Sea.

Anyway, I was happy to join three of my favorite people - "RevMum", Father Andrew and Pastor Les - as we blessed the harvest at the bogs on Randolph & 101. KCBY TV showed up along with the Cranberry Princesses & Prince.

Scrapbooking Koyasan Trip

2009-09-07T19:07:00.000-07:00

Remember when you had to send your film (remember film?) away to be processed? A week later you received your photographs in an envelope. If you were an organized person, you marked the back of the photo with the date. If you were really organized you put them in a photo album.

Sometimes I think it was easier in the "old days"! Today we have to download our own photos, edit them, file them, print them, and then what the heck do we do with them?

Well I've decided to combine a few select photos with miscellaneous memorabilia to celebrate selected special memories. Today I started with a trip to Koyasan - Mt. Koya - in Fall 2007. Here are a few samples. This is also an exercise in learning to post & move photos in a blog post...

Despite the fact that it was a rainy couple of days when we visited Koyasan, we were charmed by its beauty and history.

We were able to spend the night in a Buddhist monastery. The monks served us an incredible vegetarian meal...the 3 trays of food in upper left corner were for just one person! In the morning we were able to join them for prayers/chanting. It was a wonderful experience.

I think I will post the other pictures in a new post...and try a few new methods in doing so!

Dye Day

2009-09-04T17:04:00.000-07:00

Today I tried a new dyeing technique...it didn't go as planned but I am sure this wool will find a place in some project or another. I overdyed some "blah" tan wool with 5 different colors - did one in a crockpot and one in a mason jar.

Dyeing wool is very meditative for me. In fact, dipping wool in a vat of dye is like meditation - the more I dip myself into that inner space, the deeper and richer my life becomes. Unfortunately I was a bit scattered and felt somewhat rushed today - not the best time to try a new technique. Not the best time to start a new venture.

Above you see some before and after pictures....or should I say "after and before"? The results, although not what expected, are still quite pleasant. I guess we call that grace?

A Fun Exercise

2009-09-04T16:58:00.000-07:00

I have often done "stream of consciousness" collages - quickly pull pictures from magazines that grab my attention, make a collage, and look for the message. One of my online rug hooking groups suggested doing the same type of exercise using a newspaper. This is what emerged in about 15 minutes...

Try it! Ask yourself what message it conveys or what it says about your life right this very moment.

Sabbatical

2009-09-03T16:08:00.000-07:00

A sabbatical is a period of time granted for professional development and spiritual renewal away from normal responsibilities in a manner that is not possible during the busyness of a typical work year. Sabbaticals are not vacations, but carefully planned periods of time devoted to study, reflection, rest, and renewal. They frequently become a path to understanding one’s life in new ways or as a vehicle for a transformed sense of spiritual identity. This is a time to experience more “being” than “doing”; a time of freedom and authenticity. One of the goals of a sabbatical is to return to the congregation renewed and refreshed.

I am now on my second sabbatical. When it was written into my contract all those years ago that I would receive a six-month paid sabbatical leave every seven years, I don't think any of us could foresee my tenure lasting that long! This time around, I have chosen to divide the six months into two three-month periods. I was off March, April, May - back to work June, July, August - and now here we are in the second half. I find it takes several weeks to find a rhythm of more "being", to let go of "to do" lists and schedules, and to do whatever I feel inspired to do on any given day.

In the Spring I took a wonderful online class called "Tempting Techniques" to explore a variety of mixed media techniques. Here is a sample of using alcohol inks on photo paper. The background was created by using a really cool material that looks like a big blue sponge. You heat it up with the heat gun and press textures into it to make a stamp.

For the cover of the book I used some fusion "fabric" that I made from soy silk - a byproduct from processing tofu. Who knew!

So now that I'm figuring out how to post pictures (well...sort of figuring it out), there may be more to come!

Welcome!

2009-09-03T11:01:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog. Only time will tell how this venture will evolve. This may be the first post in many - or it may be the last. My vision is vague but I feel prompted to jump in and at least give it a try.

Now here is one of the most difficult aspects of blogging - what is the topic?? You see, I am a very fortunate person - I love the work that I do AND I love the time that I have off to enjoy a variety of other activities. So on what aspect of life do I concentrate? As usual...ALL of it!

Unity of Bandon, located on the southern Oregon coast has been my spiritual community for 15 years. It is the first in which I have served as minister and will most likely be my last as I can not imagine ever leaving here. It's not called the "Odd Flock" for no reason!

I am currently on a three-month sabbatical leave (Sep, Oct, Nov) so now seemed like a good time to try this venture. My plan is to spend this time of renewal engaging in activities I love:

hooking (rugs and wallhangings), dyeing wool, quilting, visual journaling, altered books, soapmaking, gardening, cooking, beading...get the idea?

And now....the journey has begun....