Metalwork

While I am a painter and my focus has been on drawing and painting all my life, I love playing with different types of media. I enjoy learning how to use different tools, how materials behave and how to manipulate them to achieve my goals. In highschool and again in college I took metalsmithing and really enjoyed seeing my ideas come to life.

My friend’s birthday was coming up, and this friend can get herself anything she wants. What do you get someone who has it all? I usually find that handmade, one of a kind gifts mean more and aren’t going to be a likely duplicate of something someone already has. Knowing she loves unicorns and as I want to encourage whimsy, I decided a unicorn suncatcher was the perfect thing. I asked my friend Emerald to use her studio and have her there if I had questions, and she agreed. I drew up a unicorn based off of some clipart and online photos of horses.

I cut out my drawing, traced it on 18 gauge brass sheet, and hand sawed it out. I filed the edges, stamped designs, sanded it, hammered it flat, drilled out the holes (Emerald did two as I was a bit nervous I was pressing too hard and would break her drill bit), sanded it again, and wired the beads and chain on. It took me about ten hours to make. Handmade is the slow way of doing things- but it is so rewarding!

Floral Mural

I finished the mural! I spent 6 days on it and got it done. It feels good getting big projects done.

I added gold leaf touches at the end.

Teresa loves it and will be paneling in the bottom of this wall in a dark, smoky purple with a medium brown wood moulding separating the paneling from the mural. I cannot wait to see it! (Ok, I might be as excited as Teresa.)

Sidequest

While painting on the Mt Hood painting, my friend was redoing her bedroom and we talked ideas. This led to me doing a mural in her room. I am painting roughly the top two fifths of the wall in a large scale floral (inspired by a wallpaper she liked, but not copied from) and the bottom she will panel in and paint a very dark, smoky purple.

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Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

The 9yr old wanted to paint, so we let her in the dark purple that will cover the whole bottom.

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There is more to go, but this is it so far! Another couple days and it will be done, and I will be back to working on Mt Hood.

Wreaths Make Me Happy

Wreaths are fun. They are a way to be as funky or as traditional as you want while making the front of your house a welcoming place. It can be as crafty or artistic as you can make it. For me, it’s a way of putting art outside and making the porch a part of the house.

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So for my current post- I love sunflowers, yellow is my favorite color, and fall is here (right?!). I have been seeing sunflowers all through town and with already having backed a couple quilts in sunflower prints, a pillow and a reversible tablerunner.. I remembered I had a bag of silk flowers from my mother in law on my shelf of holiday stuff and knew what to make. A wreath! So I got busy and cleaned out my stash and now I have something else sunflowery for the house!

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On this theme I felt like sharing past wreaths I have made.

Our Mt Hood wreath is our year-round decoration in celebration of hiking. Cory cut Mt Hood and the sign out with his scroll saw.

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My cousin liked our Mt Hood wreath, so we made a Mt Rainier for their house. I love getting Cory to use his scroll saw for things like the Rainier silhouette.

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This was one of the very first wreaths I made. I was excited as we were getting married and I just had to make something pretty.

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My fall wreath is one of my favorites.

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Halloween wreath, fixed up so now looks like this:

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4th of July wreath

Our Christmas wreath is another collaboration with Cory. I sketched out a nativity scene and he cut it out with his scroll saw. I painted it and assembled the wreath.

One of 2 candy cane wreaths I made.

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Our winter wreath- the bear was purchased, not made by either of us.

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This wreath was made by my mom when I was so small I don’t remember a time without it. She gave it to me and it was looking a little tired, so I made a new bow and added some red and green bells to it. It seemed to do the trick! Now it is the back door Christmas wreath.

Mountain Cardigan

I finally made my mountain cardigan (Jacket? Cardigan? Cardigan.). My sister and I had plans to make this together in May of 2024.. but we ran out of time. I would look for bias binding on trips to JoAnn and not find a color I liked- and of course they closed this year. So, with a camp trip to Mt Hood planned, I decided this was reason enough to finish it. My sister reassured me I could do it in a few hours and have it in time.

I wish I could tell you the pattern- but it’s been drawn out for over a year now and I do not remember. I do know I made the body longer, and sleeves a little wider and much longer than the pattern called for.

She was right and I did have it done in time, but I learned a few things:

1-Sewing fleece is a different experience and it is best to go slow. It is stretchy and thick so you have to intentionally never pull it, lest you warp it. 2. Premade bias binding is also different-not terrible- but different. The fabric folded inward toward the crease is not folded as far in as when I make it, and the kind I bought was polyester as my jacket and thread were also. It slides differently than cotton.

Anywho. I like wearing my mountains around and feeling like Ms Frizzle.

Skeletons!

After sewing up the cut n sew witches (by Stacey Iest Hsu), I went back for the cut n sew skeleton couple. They were too cute and a fun change from what I normally make.

I added buttons and used a snap instead of the suggested velcrow for his bowtie. The sewing instructions for the pants are incorrect at one point- so make sure you pay more attention to the shape than what it says if you decide to make them.

Skeleton girl has pockets in her skirt for the bat, cat, and pair of ghosts that come with on the panel.

Huckleberry Pie Recipe

It is huckleberry season so I thought I would share my huckleberry pie recipe.

1st- make a double crust. We use the Pillsbury recipe. When it is chilled and ready (I would go ahead and roll out the bottom crust and have it in the pie plate), make the pie filling.

2.Pie filling- Let me first say- for this I do not worry about precise measurements. We forage our huckleberries for the most part and use a tupperware that when it is full (3 cups)- we know we have enough berries.

Mix berries, 5 TBSP minute/instant tapioca mix (rounded or flatish, but full), 3/4C sugar, lemon zest of 1 whole lemon+ juice of 1/2 of that lemon.

3. Dump berry mixture into pie crust. Roll out & cover pie with top crust. Poke holes for pie to breathe.

4. Bake @ 425° for 15 min. Take out, cover edges, bake @ 350° for 45 min, until top golden.

Let it cool a bit before you eat.

* We make ours where the lemon is pretty flavorful along with the berries. If you want less lemon, skip the lemon juice and zest half the lemon.

A Busy Week..

Hi!!! I have been sewing a bunch lately and have some projects to share!

I bought this Moda cut n sew panel and made a witch (then decided I am making more of these as they are fun!)

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I made a Christmas Cabin banner with fabrics from FreeSpirit

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I made a Halloween Banner with Riley Blake fabrics on front and leftover fabrics I had on back.

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This pillow is “Head of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette” by van Gogh on a panel I found in an Etsy shop. I put sunflowers on back for the van Gogh theme.

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I also finished my Teddy and the Bears quilt!!

Currently..

The past week (ok, it has been a few days more than that, but not much more)I started up a quilt to have ready for hand quilting while I dogsit for my bestie.

I am loving how the hand quilting is looking on the purple background!

I used the Bear Camp quilt pattern from Prairie Quilt Co and then added a 3” border of squares to make it larger and use more of my Teddy and the Bears fabrics by Sarah Watts.

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My friend’s dog has been fun to watch. She is really sweet and LOVES her treats. This was my attempt at taking her picture while Cory tried to have her sit still by flowers. It didn’t work out so well, ha!

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We went on a hike yesterday at one of our favorite falls and saw these MASSIVE mushrooms on one of the trees. There are so many things to see when you stop and look around- even on a trail you have been on a hundred times!

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Cathedral Ridge Painting

Hey! I am working on a painting of Mt Hood for the lobby of Agger Chiropractic. We decided on a 30”x40” from a photo I took while hiking around Cathedral Ridge.

To be ready for a painting this large I like to have a simple grid to block in large shapes as I cannot see the whole canvas while standing close enough to work on it.