For those who still haven't swaped a Postcard with Susan over at Cyber Fyber. Don't miss this opportunity to join in! While joining... Sharon has started a new community called Stitchin Fingers.
Have a nice weekend!
For those who still haven't swaped a Postcard with Susan over at Cyber Fyber. Don't miss this opportunity to join in! When Mr C and I first thought about coming on this trip to Israel, I had in mind that I would do a series of pieces based on the trip. I will have the opportunity to mount a show of this work at Trinity Cathedral in Portland. What is so interesting to me is that I had a vision of what the color palette would be before I arrived here. If you have looked at any of my photos from the trip, you can see that the color scheme is very neutral — gray, beige and golden tones.
I have been paying attention to words and metaphors as we visit various sites. For instance, pomegranates grow profusely in the Galilee area and are featured in antique carvings. Almost every where you travel in this amazing country, you are faced with the facts of past and present strife. I am thinking of representing this with red for the blood shed. Anyway, I am intentionally thinking about ways to present this experience in my fabric art.
Today, we drove from Galilee to Jerusalem through the West Bank, stopping for lunch in Jericho. We went through several check points as we went from Israeli control to Palestine control and so on. It was quite striking to see the difference in the Israeli controlled Galilee to the West Bank, which is Palestinian. The roads are less cared for, there is a lot of trash along the way, the homes are often made up of whatever can be tacked together and the farms do not have the polished look of the kibbutz farms. I will post some photos from today, later when I have some time.
I thought I would post some photos about our trip yesterday. You can see all of the photos on my Flickr site. Our first stop was the ruins of Sepphoris, famous for its splendid 3rd century mosaics. This particular face was very compelling:
We also visited Nazareth which is inhabited by Muslims and Christians — very few Jews live there. We had lunch near the well where Mary, the mother of Jesus, would have gotten her daily water supply, thus it is now named Mary’s fountain. We visited a recreated typical Nazarene home and farm. It is on a site that had been excavated and had some of the necessary parts of a family farm, such as a wine press made from a rocky area. Our guide was the lead archaeologist on the dig. There were the cutest kids dressed in costume hanging out for our entertainment.
I take many of my photos from the bus as we travel around the country. I love taking photos of doors, windows and interesting buildings.
Notice the high tops on this Palestinian girl.
I also love to photograph the architecture. Much of the housing is on hillsides and vertical. This is to save the flat land for agriculture
Tomorrow we are off to Bethlehem. When we arrived in Jerusalem this afternoon, we drove up to the Mt. of Olives to get an overview of Jerusalem — wow, what a sight.





by Dijanne Cevaal (noreply@blogger.com) at May 16, 2008 03:15 PM
This first one - is a bit of a disappointment. I actually finished it a week ago, but was so unhappy with it that I balked at posting images on my blog.by Cynthia St Charles (noreply@blogger.com) at May 16, 2008 02:15 PM
Next, I machined all the daisy/star shapes, then added a narrow binding (in the fluorescent orange) round the back.
It didn't photograph terribly well: you don't get the wonderful shine of the "metallic" orange bit, or the limeyness of the green. But while making it I had various ideas for other uses of hexagons.
Messing around with textural stitching last night...I think I might mess around some more tonight...no doubt this will have more added stuff before it's done.by Wild Thread Studio (noreply@blogger.com) at May 16, 2008 05:11 AM

Rayna headed off for the Convention Center and I wandered into the Nordstrom Rack before heading back out to the suburbs. As I told Rayna, the Rack is a crap shoot, but I won today—found a great pair of Clark sandals that I can walk in. (I am sparing you a photo of my feet.)
I finished up some painting in the small bathroom at the house, then went outside, to enjoy the wonderful weather. Today it was in the '80s—our first really warm day this year. It was green and cool by the creek.

Ray is planning to plant native plants near the creek and bought a couple of trilliums, at my request.
I was tired of working at the house, so I called my son-in-law and asked him if he'd like to come and help Ray hang a cabinet and intall a toilet. In exchange I went and took care of Sofia. Win-win. Sofi was dressed for summer weather and looked awfully cute in her shorts and summery top. Oh, those knees and elbows! We had a good time out in the yard until I insisted that she couldn't eat the pinecones. That didn't sit well.
She didn't stay mad for long and accepted a baby cookie as a peace offering. When I asked her if she wanted a cookie, she went straight to the cupboard where they are kept and pointed up at the door. I think she's pretty smart. Good survival skills. I always think it's good to know where the cookies are.
After breakfast, Terry went shopping and I hot-footed it over to the convention center. I spent the day wandering around and then attending various sessions given by other authors. Finally, I got my chance to talk about my book and then went to dinner with the wonderful C&T people.I have been out of touch because we lost WiFi at the kibbutz for a day. Yesterday, we visited two sites that were in out of the way places and off the beaten path. It was much more peaceful. Our guide was asked to give us some quiet time on the bus.
We drove up the Golan Heights to the ruins of a Jewish town named Gamla which is (I think) the Hebrew word for camel. If you look at the photo below, you see the shape of the geography that resembles a ridge on a camel’s back. We did not hike down to the town, we observed it from above. You really can’t see the ruins in this photo. The geography of this area was spectacular. The sea of Galilee is off in the distance.
The site is a nature preserve as well as an archeological site. I enjoyed the various wild flowers in bloom. This thistle plant abounds in Galilee.
We then drove to Korazim, the remains of a Jewish town mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud as renowned for the good wheat grown there. This is the sign which greets visitors.
I include this because rocks and stone are such a presence in this country, even modern homes are made of concrete. But the remains of past civilizations are revealed in the rocks and stones of their homes and crafts.
The remains of the synagogue in this town were especially beautiful. I took lots of photos which can be seen on my Flickr site.
Here is Mr C finding some quiet time in the ruins.
We literally had this place to ourselves by the end of our visit. Our resident priest, Mary Anne, set a table for a communion service. It was a lovely experience to share the bread and wine, from our kibbutz, and served on pottery purchased here in the Galilee.
Just a comment on my last post. I was probably very jet lagged and a little grumpy. I was taken aback by the commercialism, but I am having a wonderful time. But, let me tell you, there is not much free time. Tomorrow we are off to Jerusalem. So excited! I hope to have a chance after dinner to post some photos of our visit to Sepphoris (Zippori) and Nazareth, today.
I am working this week. I am preparing for a fabric dyeing class this weekend at the Rend Lake Visitor’s center. I have been studying and writing my handout and getting kits ready.
I have also been playing/working in my room. My new best friend is gesso. A friend of mine had given me several books of home dec samples. Being the little hoarding and can’t-waste-anything person that I am, I have found a use for some of these pieces. I usually work fairly small, so these do come in handy. (When, oh, when will I work larger?) I am taking the large florals and painting them with gesso, then painting over that with the Adirondack iridescent paints. I love the whitewashed feeling the gesso does to the fabric. The paint is not put on solid, but a bit randomly. You’ll see. I am using these pieces to frame other small pieces of art. I like the look. Now to find a way to mount them for hanging. I glued (PVA, acid free) the gessoed, painted home dec fabric to matboard, but have stopped there so far. These pieces are not stitched yet. The only problem I see so far, is that the lovely gessoed florals are mostly covered up, but I do like the “framing” look of it.
I am thinking “Fragments of a Life”. What do you think?
Again using scraps…home dec fabric, gesso, acrylics, stamping, dyed craft paper, torn paper from a photo, screening, painted dryer sheets, hand dyed fabric, calligraphy pen. This started with a georgous earthy hand dye I wish I could repeat.
I think I will be adding more to this one. I am thinking more background texture. The home dec fabric pieces have a lovely ragged edge on one side (shown here on the bottom), from cutting them out of the book. I would like to utitilize that.
I am looking forward to soon spending a few days dyeing, painting and screening with soy wax out in my patio…if this cold, rainy weather ever clears up!

Your English teacher always told you to revise your essays, right? Well, it turns out that for some people the same adage applies to paintings. Remember this Not-Duck?
Early Wednesday evening, turned on its side and worked over a bit, it looked like this:
Late Wednesday evening, that vacant lower right side was beginning to take shape.
And the moral of that story is -- you can't turn an essay on its side. But you certainly can revise it beyond recognition. --June

Boundary Waters 32
21″h x 66″w
White cotton fabric, paint, thread.
I finished this piece right before Collage Mania; it was one of those joyful artworks that spring out fully formed.
This artwork is my entry in Art Quilts XIII: Lucky Break at the Chandler Center for the Arts. I’m not entering much this year, but I always enter this show because of the beautiful venue and the personal touch of the curator, Diane Howell.
Boundary Waters 32 obviously continues the series based on my journeys with my sister in The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW).
The BWCAW is known for its cliffs and rocky outcroppings, worked in endless layers by erosion, volcanic activity, and glaciers. Huge sheet of granite were broken, tilted and folded beginning over 2.7 billion years ago. The end result is the wonderful landscape we are privileged to enjoy as we paddle along: long narrow lakes, jagged shorelines and towering cliffs.
It’s hard to see, even in this detail, but this piece is stitched twice. Once, very irregularly, with invisible thread to mimic the fault lines in the rocks and once, in parallel lines, over the entire surface with variegated rayon thread to mimic the very orderly stacking of the rock. I like the contrast between the jumbled surface and the regimented top stitching as well as the contrast between the two types of stitching.




This morning during my morning meditation time I had the usual brother and sister birds that add to my time with Creator bringing different messages for the day. But today I noticed in the neighbors tree a new visitor, Brother raccoon, a relative of the bear. He came over the fence moved directly toward me as I sat on my perch and without hesitation he made his way over to me face to face. We made eye contact several times as I spoke to him and then I stopped to listened to what he had come to say. Thank you Brother Raccoon for this message today. Ttlazocamatiby Sabrina Zarco (noreply@blogger.com) at May 15, 2008 11:02 AM

Screwing up is a virtue.Being correct is never the point.
being right can stop the momentum of a very interesting idea.
by Dijanne Cevaal (noreply@blogger.com) at May 15, 2008 10:04 AM
Speaking as someone who has rather more flesh than I'd like, I'm delighted to see this lifesize painting by Lucien Freud (grandson of Sigmund) has just become the highest value painting ever sold, going for a mere US$33.6 million to an undisclosed bidder. The blog heading is mine - the painting is actually called "Benefits Supervisor Sleeping" - the model was doing that job at the time.by Shirley Goodwin (noreply@blogger.com) at May 15, 2008 09:44 AM
My first impulse was to stamp rather than sew, and the erasers were the right size for half a hexagon -
One eraser was big enough for a whole hexagon, but the pattern didn't go together quite the way I remembered it...
Lesson: don't rely on memory, have another look at your source. This is more like it! -
The fabric was (and is) intended to be used as stripes a la Margo Selby --
but I ran out of time and that will have to wait till another time.by Dijanne Cevaal (noreply@blogger.com) at May 14, 2008 09:34 PM
While I was waiting for my room to be ready I went in search of lunch and an Office Depot, where I could have more business cards printed because I did not bring enough. In a little while, Anna Faustino, another author and I, are going to head over to the convention center to get our badges and say hello to the C&T people while they are setting up their booth. She in napping; I am talking to you.


Candytuft
-- Jer
I added a new summer reading list/essay, Hunting and Gathering, to Art, Nature, Creativity, Life yesterday. If you’re a subscriber, I’m always happy to hear your comments.
Hunting and Gathering is an annotated book list with thoughts about being a foodie and why, the cascade effect of reading one good book on a topic, why it’s best sometimes not to read biographies of cultural heroes, my foray into growing heirloom tomatoes this year, and the au courant topic of being a locavore.
Here are some interesting summer websites, not included in the essay, related to Hunting and Gathering:
Where to find local products - Local Harvest
Join the hunt for bees! The Great Sunflower Project

Mrs. Ochiai got her village cut and placed and sandwiched at my house and then she went home to do the quilting. She said it took her two days to do this. What a great idea! Look at all the houses she put in the border! I've got to try this! (Which means I'll be making another village...) I have to admit I am a big fan of American Idol. Tonight the adorable David Archuleta sang this bittersweet Billy Joel song. (You can hear Billy Joel's version here) I think he did a beautiful job with the song, though I am probably rooting a little harder for the other David than for David A.
And So it Goes. You may suppose that the name of my blog, And Sew it Goes, was chosen mainly because of the corny "sew/so" pun, but I go back a ways with that phrase.
I am a fan of Linda Ellerbee, the journalist, who ended her newscasts, always, with the phrase, "And so it goes." Her writing and delivery were so eloquent, so beautifully expressed. For me she brought compassion and humanity to the news in a way that no one else ever has. She has gone on to produce childrens' news programming and having survived breast cancer, has become a speaker and activist for breast cancer research and treatment. Her autobiography was titled "And So it Goes." She is one of my heros.
Many years ago (1993, to be exact) I found my way onto the internet and discovered the Quiltnet listserve, which was my first exposure to what has become the amazing online community of quilters and artists. At that time the internet and listservs seemed very impersonal since there were no ways of posting photos easily at that time and no one had web sites or blogs. There were several Terrys/Teris/Terries on Quiltnet and I wanted a way of distinguishing myself in my posts, so I started using "And Sew it Goes . . ." as a signature line. It seemed a natural choice when I named my blog.
For me it means we are all in the river of life—where we started doesn't really matter, where we are going is too far ahead to see. We are in the stream—and so it goes . . .
by Dijanne Cevaal (noreply@blogger.com) at May 14, 2008 08:23 AM
by Dijanne Cevaal (noreply@blogger.com) at May 14, 2008 08:22 AM
Another tree lady needed to be made last night. This one will be a 4x6"'er and will find a home in Michelle's great little Maine gallery http://www.rougettegallery.com/ . Michelle purchased one of my very early 4x6" art quilt postcards on ebay - when? 2 yrs ago? - and has been carrying them in her gallery ever since. Michelle carries work that is unusual and outside the norm, most you'll never find in traditional fine art galleries. She once said that the beauty of my work helps to offset the edginess of some of her other artists. I think that is one of the most unique compliments my work has ever received.This piece was created using my own gelatin printed and discharged fabric, plus some painted Lutradur.
by Wild Thread Studio (noreply@blogger.com) at May 14, 2008 04:57 AM
I have been hoping for some down time to really reflect on my impressions of this visit to the birth place of Christianity. Today, it was very hot and muggy, again. We have all had to drink lots of water. Most of the sights that we visited were out in the open, with little shade. So, we finished early to come back to the kibbutz to be refreshed.
I hoped that I would have time to write a more informative post, but here it is — 10:30 in the evening and I need to get some more sleep. I took a nap this afternoon and then downloaded photos. Then it was lecture time, followed by dinner. I almost dozed off in the lecture!! When we signed on for this trip, I think we had a notion that we would be a group of like-minded pilgrims quietly visiting the important sites of the historical Jesus. We are what I would call more progressive Christians, believing that Jesus was a revolutionary person who set out to liberate the oppressed residents of this agrarian and fishing area of the middle east. I believe that he was all about peace and justice in the shadow of an empirical government. We are traveling with two of the preeminent scholars of this notion — Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan. The director of our Spirituality Center is married to Marcus. The pilgrimage is sponsored by the center.
Our local guide is an archaeologist and spends too much time (for me) pontificating on types of columns, the life of the Romans and other archaeological facts. One ruin begins to look like another and the constant babble does not give one time to reflect and sketch. Not to mention the busloads of other tourists visiting the same sites. Then, there are the souvenir stands. Even our bus driver has books and dvds for sale.
The boat trip on the Sea of Galilee was surreal. It was already very hot at 8:30 when we boarded our boat. It was refreshing to be out on the water. A peaceful and contemplative trip on the water would have been lovely.
Instead, we were “entertained” by the crew. They raised the American flag and blasted the Star Spangled Banner over the speakers.
They gave us a demonstration of how the fishermen would have cast their nets back in the day - that was interesting.
Now, we had to endure the hawking of a cd of Israeli music, which they blasted on the speakers and sang along with, and a vinyl “Places of the Holy Land” place mat. One guy even got out his drum and accompanied the music. Don’t get me wrong, it was quite entertaining. Many people got into the spirit and danced and sang along. It was fun, in a way, but not what I had expected.
I am thoroughly enjoying the company of the folks on this trip. They are all interesting and intelligent. We start the day with a 15 minute meditation. The end of the day is another meditation with Taize chants, followed by a short lecture by each of the scholars with some Q and A. The Center has not sponsored a trip here in 10 years, and I think it is clear that things have changed considerably.
Enough about that. What else did we do today? We visited the newly discovered and unearthed site of Magdela, home of Mary Magdalene. It is on property owned by the Franciscan brothers who have it fenced in. Next door is a defunct amusement park - talk about surreal! Crossan said he hoped that the site would one day honor Mary as one of the followers and important historical persons, without putting a basilica over it!
Then we we stopped at the site of the feeding of the 5000. Under this alter is the rock from which Jesus supposedly served the food.
This building had beautiful mosaic floors that had been unearthed.
Next on the tour was Peter’s house, actually his mother-in-law’s. Several of the men could not enter this Catholic run site because they were wearing shorts - Mr C included. I was sorry he could not go in because it was the most interesting of the sites, with layers of buildings from different eras and the ruins on an incredible synagogue. Of course, there was a brand new basilica built over the ruins of Peter’s house, but the synagogue was open and you could wander through it, imagining another time.
I love this mosaic on the altar in the new basilica.
We topped at a restaurant for a sit down lunch. I had the tilapia from the Sea of Galilee.
Mmm - finished off with Turksih coffee and dates.
I asked for a diet Coke! It wasn’t enough caffiene to keep me awake. I am finishing this post on Wednesday morning.
Back at the kibbutz, we saw this 1st century fishing boat that was discovered buried in the mud in 1986. It is pretty amazing to see how the poor fishermen of the Galilee put together a boat out of various pieces of tree limbs. It is very fragile and had a metal frame and special atmospheric conditions to conserve it.
I must get put together for another day of Roman ruins? - probably!
I knew I couldn't face coming back to this on Monday morning.
The alarm is set for 3:30 a.m. and it's almost 10:30 so I think I had better try to get a few hours of sleep. I will check in from Portland. 
For those commentors who were the first to add their suggestions to the post about little changes and keeping things fresh, the ATCs are almost to the mail box. I'm waiting on addresses for a couple of you. But here's a preview and a little sharing with the others who added after number 5. It's fun to read comments, and I always enjoy the conversation.
On other studio fronts: I presided over my last meeting of Fiber Artists of San Antonio (not the last I'll attend, the last as President - presiding is the operative term). It's been a great ride (hey, take a look at the great story about the Runway Show on May 3) and all of the boardmembers, committee chairs and members who were active, engaged and participating have enriched my life immeasureably. As we become more connected internationally and nationally through avenues like this blog, like video conferencing, some experts point out that we (the big we) are becoming more isolated from civic participation, the in-person volunteering, politicing, even soft ball teams are losing membership in many communities.
I like both kinds of communication: the internet connects me with those who inspire from afar. The local fiber artist group inspires me in a whole other sense, toward the do-able, the in-person contribution, the personally present. And of course, I come down on the side of active communication and active creativity over the passive partaking of hours and hours of video, gaming, music etc. that increasing fills the space inside our heads.
I interrupt the regularly scheduled programming for a shameless promotion of a book by my daughter, Stephanie and her friend, Maria, in Portland, Me. Click the image to go to Amazon to pre-order. You can bet that I will be ordering several!! I think it comes out in November.
For those who do not know, this book is photos and text from their photo blog, 3191 — there is a link in my side bar. I am so proud of these two for pulling this off. This year, they are doing a year of evenings and perhaps, another book.
This tulip was on the way to compost heap and I happened to look inside it; it’s almost like another season of bloom with these glorious colors.
Nature Report: I forgot to mention last week that the wrens are, at last, back. I hung out my hummingbird feeder last Thursday and saw the first hummer on Friday. I don’t know how they know to come and check. The robin who built her nest in the gutter end under the eaves wasn’t as lax as we thought; her three eggs hatched Sunday. I saw my first orchard oriole yesterday and made sure to put oranges out for it. While I was typing this, a little black and orange bird flew into the bush outside the window. Sibley says it is a mature American Redstart, a type of wood warbler. I have never seen one before.
There’s a new post in The Garbage Day Project blog today.
Here's Cass in his regalia after getting degrees #2 and #3 (architecture) with Hattie (aka Red Delicious). Don't they make a lovely pair?by Shirley Goodwin (noreply@blogger.com) at May 13, 2008 08:09 AM
This morning we set off for Caesarea Phillipi and the head waters of the Jordan river. This is in the northern most area of Israel on the border of Lebanon. We were on our way up the Golan Heights to the base of Mt. Hermon. The air conditioner on the bus had a shredded belt and we got stuck in an out of the way town with Israeli soldiers, security guards checking packages as you entered stores, if you looked suspicious, that is.
The driver tried to fix it, to no avail. We finally got off the bus and stood around and chatted for what seemed like an eternity.
Help arrived. The repair was made and we were on our way - not! Another belt or the same, who knows, but we were dropped off in the town so that the bus could go to a repair shop. By now, it is late enough to have lunch, after we trooped through town, en mass, looking for public restrooms. Our guide wanted to keep us together. Of course, there was the ubiquitous MacDonald’s, which some opted for. We went out of the shopping center and found this lady making falafel sandwiches.
We were told to gather for the bus, then we were told the driver and the bus had disappeared and we were taking public transportation back to the kibbutz. Argh! Thank goodness, Ishmael and the bus showed up and we went on our way to Caesarea Phillipi. More Roman ruins. Those guys sure left a lot of stuff in their wake! Actually, the preserve was a combination of antiquities and lush vegetation. The headwaters of the Jordan river supplied lots of water for some beautiful flora.
We had to cancel the walk along the Jordan river and arrived past our scheduled time at the kibbuts for our afternoon lecture and dinner. Two days in a row, we have lost our precious bit of free time, but I am not complaining!! I just want some time to sit in this chair:
I started this post last night, but I crashed and am finishing it this morning before I go to breakfast. We are going for a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee this morning. It is really hot and dry here (I am not complaining about that) so this sounds very refreshing.
I finally have a Flickr set for the trip photos, here.

Now that the really hard physical work is over, we’re having fun arranging areas of the newly renovated offices and gallery.
Here’s a drawing desk I built using an old black door and some dusty sawhorses I found in the warehouse. I like that the hinges are still attached (except when I busted my ankle on one as I was moving the door into the room). The door knob is still attached to the other side, which makes is easy to carry around.

Last week while I was recuperatin