Studio update, a workshop results, and what's on the design wall....

It has been a while since I posted any photos of the studio.  Believe it or not I am still slowly moving in.  I've been waiting for my stainless steel work table in the wet studio area and also my window shades for the main area.  I have to have light control before I am willing to move my books into their new shelving as they will be in an area where the afternoon sun can hit them.

See the difference the shades make?!

I chose 5% transparency for the windows facing west, and 10% for the north windows

(behind the sofa).  Can you see the difference in opacity between the left and right ones behind

the sofa?  Oops.  The manufacturer sent the wrong one on the left.  That will be replaced.

Did I ever show you the tile collage inside the remodeled 

shower-rinse space?  I can't remember.  I loved all these tiles so much that 

the architect figured out a collage for them.  The hexagons cover the floor.

We opted for a dog-washing sprayer in here.  No door so it is "splashy" as an 

actual shower but I doubt it will be used for that very often.  I envision that I will rinse 

larger rolls of dyed fabric or even put a short clothesline in here occasionally.

Remember the concrete slab I opted to have poured on the side of my studio wall?

Now the pathway has been put in with flagstone and river rock.

A simple garden is now in place.  I may add to this

at some point.  There is dappled sunlight here because of all our trees so 

I wanted simple plantings that won't require a lot of fuss or water.

I moved a few of my ceramic pots over to this area and planted them with coleus

and potato vine.  The area toward the upper left of this shot has a mass-planting of

ajuga, a ground cover that has a nice purple blossom in the spring.

I have plans to put a couple of raised work tables on the slab

because  I have easy access to this from the wet room.

Other changes:  I removed the overgrown knockout roses from the 

bed located directly out from the back of the living room and the west 

studio windows and replaced it with another Lucca olive tree

underplanted with purple lantana.  This will be able to take the brutal summer sun

and is xeric and a butterfly attractant.  

This strip is under my west studio windows and is like an inferno in the summer, between

the afternoon sun and all the glare from the stucco walls and radiant heat!

Therefore, I went with a very xeric mix of foxtail fern, Texas red yuccas, succulents, and a

fan palm (which has suddenly come to life after the brutality of all the construction last summer).

All these are surrounded by more river rock.  It looks great and it is simple.

I've been teaching a lot this first quarter of 2016 and my students continually amaze and inspire me!

The following are some shots from my recent class for Quilting Adventures.  This year the 

event was held in San Marcos but my understanding is that it will move back to its usual location 

at T-BarM in New Braunfels next year.  I can't tell you how much I enjoyed the luxury of a 5-day

workshop.  It was my first-ever as a teacher and it was such fun!

I stepped in for the late Yvonne Porcella, at her request, when it became apparent that her cancer was going to prevent her from traveling.  I was honored to teach in her stead.  My challenge was how to conduct the workshop in the spirit of her work and yet offer my own aesthetic to the mix.  I hope I was able to succeed.  I know I certainly enjoyed the process.

My messy work/demo area and the paint station

A student stitches her collage (made with fabrics printed in the workshop) in place!

Sara's collage, ready to stitch

Jackie printed some incredible pieces!

Brenda's beautiful painted quilt, deconstructed and re-pieced!

Debi's design wall.

Brenda's design wall

Jackie's design wall

Dee's design wall

The first of Sara's two walls...

Wall #2

We made accordion books with a variety of the things we printed

during the workshop.

Here are mine:  one partially unfolded and the other folded and tied with more ribbon.

Back on my own studio wall:  an ongoing project involving the "Tessellation" pattern

by Alison Glass and Nydia Kehnle.  This is a paper-pieced project.  My goals in working with this:

defamiliarize myself with paper-piecing, and view it as a value-study.

I went from this...

Here is what it looks like as a tonal image....

to this....

and finally, this.

Now, to stitch it all together!