This post is another installation on posts about my trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico in early November. My previous post discussed creative inspiration from visiting the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum for the first time (Creative Inspiration: Georgia O’Keeffe Museum).

Santa Fe was filled with inspiration and I was inspired to dabble in B&W iPhone photography again like in previous posts (see my series of posts Life in B&W).

So indulge me again and check out this photo essay of images from my trip to Santa Fe in B&W!

Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi

The first building I fell in love with in Santa Fe and immediately wanted to photograph in B&W was the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi in downtown Santa Fe.

I took a lot of photos of the exterior of the church and even tried different B&W iPhone filters:

And the amazing door, I had to photograph this door, as well as an interesting structure in the church courtyard:

While we wandering downtown there was a Mass in progress so I did not peek inside of the church, but there I did check out photos online of the interior which were amazing.

Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

During our visit to the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum I experimented with B&W photography. Most of the photos are not worth sharing but I do like this one of the windows in a section of the gallery:

Fences and Adobe Structures

I was absolutely fascinated with the rustic wood fences and adobe structures in Santa Fe. Here are some of my photos:

Madrid, New Mexico

As I mentioned in the post Creative Inspiration: Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, on our road trip back to Albuquerque, NM to fly home, we took a detour to visit a colleague of my friend Laurie who owns an amazing horse ranch/equestrian center.

On our route to the horse ranch, we drove through the quaint town of Madrid, New Mexico and stopped to wander around. Here are some B&W photos from that wander.

At the Equestrian Center

And finally, during our visit to the equestrian center outside of Albuquerque, NM, I took photos in B&W. I was fascinated by the displays of horse tack and saddles.

More photos (in color) of my trip to come.

Postscript

Work has been very busy lately with end of year projects. I must admit I have not had much interest in being on a computer outside of work hours lately so although I have many posts in my head I have not actually written them. I also need to catch up on the blogs I follow.

I also need a nap.

Funny when you are a kid you never want to nap, but when you are an adult you would love to have a nap!

Speaking of naps, I will close this post with an image of my miniature schnauzer, Mike, taking a nap in the front window in his cushion that has been moved to the window area per his request (smile).

He is a “Napping Professional”.

Shows and Exhibits, WCQN

Visioning Human Rights Exhibit Book Update

November 25, 2018September 27, 2021 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I posted this in my Textiles Adventures page (which highlights the latest news on my adventures in the textile arts) The book for the WCQN show, Visioning Human Rights in the New Millennium: Quilting the World’s Conscience will be released on February 28, 2019.

Screen Shot 2018-11-24 at 2.11.21 PM — image credit: amazon.com

My quilt, The Lesson & The Equation, inspired by Article 1 of United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, will be one of the quilts featured in this book from the exhibit.

For more information about the show and my quilt, check out the post Visioning Human Rights in the New Millennium, Part I or the related series of posts on WCQN.

To say that I am excited to get a copy of the book when it is released is an understatement!

Creative Inspiration

Creative Inspiration: Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

November 24, 2018 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Continuing my series of posts on sources of Creative Inspiration, I am sharing images from a museum I’ve waited a lifetime time to visit – the Georgia O’Keeffee Museum.

After a 4-day quilt retreat in Vancouver, Washington October 25 – 29, I headed the following Thursday to Santa Fe, New Mexico (via Albuquerque, NM) for a 4-day trip to celebrate the “milestone” birthdays of 3 of my friends.

My friend Laurie and I flew from Central Oregon to Albuquerque, NM, met up with our Seattle based friend Wendy, rented a car and drove to Santa Fe, NM to eventually meet up with our Denver based friend Michele.

For most of us, except Michele, it was our first visit to Santa Fe, NM, a place rich in history, culture and ART!

In addition to exploring Santa Fe, we spent a morning at a place I’ve always wanted to visit – the Georgia O’Keeffee Museum.

Ultimately we would have loved to also visit Georgia O’Keeffe’s renown Ghost Ranch, where she lived in New Mexico and was inspired to paint her iconic animal skulls painting, but we did not have a long enough visit in New Mexico to fit that in (plus I have to save something for next time!)

I’ve loved Georgia O’Keeffe’s painting for many years. When I had my first apartment in college (with 3 roommates of course) one of the first posters I bought to decorate it was one of Georgia O’Keeffe’s iconic lily paintings.

At the museum, we watched an amazing short documentary about her life. Then it was time to immerse myself in creative inspiration as I wandered around the rooms of the museums, gazing at her painting and her amazing use of line and color.

Look at those color palettes!

On display at the museum they also had Georgia O’Keeffe’s paint box:

A lot of magic came out of this box!

In addition to the incredible paintings, they also had exhibits by some of O’Keeffe’s contemporary painters and exhibits of Black and White photographs of O’Keeffe such as the one below:

(and you know about my recent obsession with B&W photography – Life in B&W)

I was familiar with Georgia O’Keeffe’s general biography, but I did not know she spent time painting/living in Lake George, New York. That was very cool to discover this as I lived in Albany, NY from about age 16 – 23 (it is where I met Terry the Quilting Husband!) and I’ve been to Lake George, NY many times (Terry’s family even had a family reunion there years ago).

Naturally after wandering around the museum with my friends for quite some time (hours?) it was time to visit the museum gift shop! Here are some of the goodies I took home:

If you’ve followed my blog for a while you know about another one of my obsessions – sunflowers (see my series of posts Sunflowers!), so imagine my delight to find these notecards that combine my love of sunflowers and my admiration for the work of Georgia O’Keeffe!

When I got home, I put on my inspiration board on my magnetic closet door panel in my studio, postcards from the gift shop. I want to make an art quilt in these palettes.

I have more photos to share from my Santa Fe, NM trip (including of course “Santa Fe in Black and White) in a future post (maybe two?).

Postscript

More creative inspiration occurred on our road trip back to Albuquerque, NM to fly home. On the way to the airport, we took a detour to visit a colleague of Laurie’s at an amazing horse ranch/equestrian center.

The detour road trip gave me an opportunity to see many amazing vistas of the New Mexico countrysides as we drove by, few of which I got to photograph as hanging your smart photo out a moving car is not the best idea. I did capture a little flavor of the general landscape:

You definitely had the flavor of being in the American Southwest.

The route also took us through the very quaint town of Madrid, New Mexico. which if you check out the link I’ve provided, you will see it is a “Ghost Town Reborn”. We stopped there for coffee and wandered around a bit. Here are a couple photos from that wandering:

A Crafter's Life

The Thorn Bushes Have Roses (Gratitude)

November 22, 2018November 21, 2018 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

In honor of Thanksgiving, I thought I would re-post my blog post from October 2015. For my U.S. readers – I hope you and the people in your life have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. For my readers around the world – I hope you and the people in your life have a wonderful day!

Abraham Lincoln said:

We can complain because the rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses

The Gratitude Diaries

I have just finished a wonderful audiobook, The Gratitude Diaries: How a Year Looking on the Bright Side Can Transform Your Life by Janice Kaplan (2015).

In her book, Janice Kaplan shares plenty of meaningful quotes, like the one above, as well as wonderful stories (personal and of others) about living each day filled with gratitude.

The author also provides lots of social science/research (aka “Malcolm Gladwell” style) that supports why true happiness and peace comes from living an existence soaked in gratitude.

A very inspirational and very joyous audiobook listen.

One of my favorite quotes in the book is one by the Greek Philosopher Epicurus:

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.

Life in B&W, Quilt Retreats

October Quilt Retreat Part IV: In Black and White

November 19, 2018November 19, 2018 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Here is the final installment of the series of posts on the quilt retreat I attended in October.

If you are just joining us – here are the previous related posts:

This post is the fault of Claudia @Claudia McGill – she encouraged me to share more Black & White photography.

As I warned my readers in the post New York City in Black and White, the “Noir” setting on my iPhone camera is a dangerous thing in the hands of an imaginary photographer!

But Claudia just had to comment on this post:

“You’ve got a good eye. Enjoyed these. More, please!”

And, all I needed was a tiny bit of encouragement and now you all are stuck with some more…

Quilt Retreat in B&W

During the quilt retreat I wandered around the retreat center and the surrounding rural areas and snapped endless photos in B&W. Here are my favorites.

Wandering Around Outside

The Quilt Retreat Center

And of course this collection of photos would not be complete without Abbey the Quilt Retreat Kitty in B&W!

Quilt Retreats, Tula Time!

October Quilt Retreat Part III: Tula Time Continues

November 18, 2018December 2, 2018 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

She was staring at me. Over her glasses. Like in judgment.

Yes, tierneycreates Beastie was wondering why I have not done my posts on the October Quilt Retreat I attended. After all she did her posts – Guest Blogger: October Quilt Retreat Part I and Guest Blogger: October Quilt Retreat Part II , a couple weeks ago!

She said my excuses are weak: a four day quilt retreat at the end of October; followed by a four day trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico; then followed by a four day work conference in Chicago (which I just returned from on Friday evening).

Then she threatened to pull out her laptop and work on the rest of the posts about the retreat herself! (She even took out her laptop and started setting up).

I convinced her to put her laptop away and that I would get back to posting on the blog immediately. (If you are new to my blog you can read more about tierneycreates Beastie in the series of posts – Beastie Adventures)

October Quilt Retreat: Tula Time

During the October Quilt Retreat, my quilting friends Judy, Dana and I worked on our Tula Pink All Stars themed quilts that Judy and I started at our September Tula Pink Retreat (see posts Tula Pink “All Stars” Retreat (Part I), and Tula Pink “All Stars” Retreat (Part II)) and Dana started at our May 2018 retreat (see post The Votes Are In!).

Dana’s Tula Blocks

Judy and I accept that Dana is a bit of an overachiever, and by the October retreat she had all her blocks done (we agreed to each make thirty-six 12.5″ x 12.5″ blocks to create a nearly Queen-sized bed quilt).

She began laying them out and deciding the final setting. After testing out various setting options (and many opinions from the other quilters at the retreat – you know quilters are so opinionated when it comes to design ideas!) she decided on the Tula Pink All Stars stripes as a lattice/sashing with solid pinwheel setting blocks, from the same fabric line, between the lattice/sashing.

Here are photos from her work on her quilt during the retreat and close ups of some of her star blocks:

Judy’s Tula Blocks

Judy and I are working more slowly (for me that means plodding along) on our 36 blocks. Here are Judy’s blocks that she put up during the retreat:

Tierney’s Tula

Well I’ve completed 24 blocks so far (only 12 more to go)! I brought my 14 completed blocks to the retreat; and completed 10 more blocks during the retreat – yay!

I started laying them out at the retreat and playing with the striped sashing concept using Dana’s already cut strips:

Tentatively I plan to use solid squares in various colors for the setting between my striped lattice (I think pinwheels would be to busy for this already VERY BUSY quilt).

Now that I am back home, I’ve put the blocks up on the large design wall in my hallway (narrow hallways, difficult to take good photos):

And I am sorting out what solid color, dots and feature fabric combinations I have not used yet, as I am trying for no combination repeats (which can be tricky for 36 blocks):

My plan is to finish up the remaining 12 blocks and get the quilt pieced by the end of January (or earlier!).

I have one more post to go about the October Quilt Retreat. I was thinking of skipping it but then tierneycreates Beastie would start staring at me over her glasses again!

Postscript

Just wanted to share this fun photo of a GIANT ball of prepped fabric strips and batting for a Jelly Roll rug that Judy worked on during our quilt retreat:

Here is what a completed rug looks like, Judy brought and example to the retreat:

I think she is now addicted to making them.

(Oh no – I sure hope Chela @Chela’s Colchas y Mas doesn’t see this post as we know what she will be working on next – ha! I remember what happened after she saw my post on making jelly roll bowls, “Throwing Pottery” on the Sewing Machine” – she became the bowl making queen!)

A Crafter's Life, Life in B&W, Sunflowers!

End of the Season Musings

November 12, 2018November 19, 2018 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

This is sort of a follow up to the 10/21/18 post Creative Inspiration: Sunflowers!. but it really about the end of the “warm” seasons in Central Oregon (late Spring, Summer and early to mid Autumn) and the heralding of the Winter (aka cold) season.

A couple days ago on my daily walk I snapped this photo of the Giant Sunflower that I posted about in the Creative Inspiration: Sunflowers! post.

Here is what is looked like in September:

Here is what it looked like in Black & White in September:

Here is what it looks like now in November:

And here is what it looks like now, in Black & White:

I seems like Black & White is the right palette for the now stark and shriveled previously gorgeous sunflower.

It appears that all the sunflower seeds are gone from the sunflower head and I am not sure why the homeowners are letting it sit there to decay.

The decay reminds that Winter is coming…

There are many good things about Winter and Winter is important to the Central Oregon ecosystem and to our economy (we have Mount Bachelor which brings in the skiers and other Winter sport enthusiasts). Winter is also a great time for reading, nesting, crafting, reflecting, and the Winter holiday.

But today I am sort of wistful for the beauty of the other seasons and grieving the end of the tremendous beauty of Autumn in Central Oregon (see post Creative Inspiration: Fall Colors).

Right now all the leaves have fallen and everything looks stark, bare and dried out. I think the landscape will get more appealing once the snow falls and a lovely blanket of white covers the stark ground.

Thrift Shop Adventures

Awesome $2 Thrift Shop Find

November 11, 2018November 12, 2018 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Howdy.

It’s time to return to blogging after taking a week or so off after 31 days straight of posting to celebrate the tierneycreates blog 5th anniversary for the month of October.

I am going to return to sharing more photos/stories from the quilt retreat I attended the near end of October; and I recently returned from a trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico and I have photos and stories to share.

But first, I wanted to share another very cool thrift store find! It’s another entry in my series of posts Thrift Shop Adventures. This post is sort of a follow up to my October 22 post, Awesome $3 Thrift Shop Find. However this time it was an awesome $2 thrift shop find!

A Trip to a Local Charity Thrift Shop

Why I ended up on Saturday at a local thrift shop: I was dropping off a donation of yarn skeins after clearing out my excess yarn stash.

In my master bedroom closet I had two tubs of yarn tucked away. Poor forgotten yarn.

A couple of years ago I made a commitment to only keep the craft items/materials that I loved and used (see my series of posts My Minimalism Journey) except I appeared to have forgotten about my yarn.

I pulled out the two large tubs of yarn, dumping all the skeins onto the floor and discovered I had yarn that I purchased over 15 years ago, never used, and likely would never use (especially the faux fur type of yarn that was popular for making those furry looking scarves 15 years ago!). I was able to put together a large package of yarn skeins to donate to a local charity thrift shop.

After pulling out all the yarn I would never use, I decided to put the yarn I would like to make something with (someday) somewhere besides tucked away in tubs in the back of my master bedroom closet.

So I organized (and I use that term loosely) the yarn skeins in the closet of my studio which I keep open most of the time:

So with my remaining yarn organized, I headed off to a local thrift shop to donate the yarn I did not need.

A Yummy Find

After dropping off my donation at the donation area in the back of the thrift shop, I figured it would not hurt to just peek inside, quickly (smile), the thrift shop.

Once inside I immediately headed to the crafts section and what did I find – a large bag of beautiful home decorating samples:

I could barely contain my excitement when I saw the price on the bag – two dollars! So the bag and I headed up to the counter to pay and I gleefully left the thrift shop with my prize!

Inside the $2 Bag

It was difficult not to open the bag and look inside in my car, but I knew I should wait until I got home and could fully enjoy the discovery of what waited inside.

Inside were many beautiful home decor fabric samples, like these ones below that were from New York City:

And here are photos of a sampling of the other samples, as I was putting them away in the container where I keep home decor samples (which is now full…):

Included in the package were beautiful swatches of raw silk, gorgeous embroidered fabrics, velvets and other wonderful textures.

Who knows what I will do with these fabrics, for now I am just happy to have them in my recycled fabrics collection and appreciate that someone donated them for someone else to enjoy rather than having them end up in the landfill.

Beastie Adventures, Guest Blogger, Quilt Retreats, Tula Time!

Guest Blogger: October Quilt Retreat Part II

November 2, 2018August 13, 2020 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

This post is a continuation of the post Guest Blogger: October Quilt Retreat .

I have returned today as the Guest Blogger after I was interrupted by Halloween and then Tierney announcing the winners of the tierneycreates 5th anniversary giveaways in yesterday’s post.

Do I need to introduce myself again? This is tierneycreates Beastie. I am a monster, but the good kind of monster. You can learn all about me and catch up on my adventures in the series of posts Beastie Adventures.

Okay so now that the introduction is over, let’s return to how I was left to wander around the Quilt Retreat because Tierney would not let me help the other quilters cut their fabric, sigh.

2018-10-25_15-04-08_947 — Not allowed to actually use the rotary cutter, only teased with it!

Wandering Around the Retreat (continued)

In the last post I shared the Penguin Party blocks that 3 of the quilters were working on. Here are some other works in progress and a completed jelly roll rug:

There was also some major Tula Pink All Stars action that is a follow up to this post – Tula Pink “All Stars” Retreat (Part II), but Tierney want to milk stories from this retreat for as many blog posts as possible so that will be covered on another post (Beastie eye roll).

Quilt Retreat Food

There was all sort of interesting foods served at the retreat, a quilter could never go hungry! There was also a birthday celebration for some of the quilters and birthday cake:

And what’s under this dome?

Well it’s Pineapple Upside Down Cake! (No worries it was not served on the same evening as the birthday cake – ha!)

Inside the Quilt Retreat Center Main House

The Sew N Go Retreat in Vancouver, Washington has a quilt retreat center where all the sewing happens; it also has the main house with the sleep accommodations, living and dining rooms and a classroom. Here are some images from inside the main house which is decorated with…you guessed it – quilts!

Tierney always brings the host, Nancy a handmade gift each time she attends the retreat and here are a couple of her gifts from previous years displayed – a miniature kimono and sets of coasters:

Road Trip!

During the quilt retreat, we had to do a little road trip to a quilt shop! We went to the quilt shop Country Manor in Battleground WA.

I got to wander around the aisle of the quilt shop.

2018-10-25_12-40-34_935 — I like yarn shops better as they can lead to more Beas

The best part though was the road trip to the quilt shop, I got to ride for a while in the front on one of the quilter’s shoulders!

2018-10-25_12-13-04_598 — Road Trippin’!

Take a Hike!

You can’t just sit around and sew and eat. You have to get some exercise! Sew N Go is located in the country with lots of farms around and the quilters went for daily walks. Here are some photos from their walks:

Abbey the Quilt Retreat Kitty

As with previous retreats, Tierney visited with Abbey the Quilt Retreat Kitty.

Abbey was chewing on one of her “hot spots” on her tummy and did have to wear a “collar of comfort” for part of the quilt retreat:

That did not slow her down from trying to get pets from Tierney (I could not pet her with my limited Beastie arm motion, plus she might have thought I was a toy!)

Inside the Classroom

The large garage of the Sew N Go Retreat main house was converted into a classroom a couple of years ago. It is an impressive garage conversion! Here are a couple project going on in the classroom.

Quilts of Honor

Nancy the owner of Sew N Go and her friends have a Quilts of Honor (like Quilts of Valor) where they make quilts for Veterans and then present them in a special ceremony. One of the quilters volunteering on this project makes incredible embroidered labels for each Veteran’s quilt that is customized with their name. Here is a section of one of those labels:

Cool Carry All

Not sure what you would officially call this, but in the classroom were examples of an awesome carrier for quilting or other supplies that were recently made. Tierney bought the pattern to make one herself:

Back Home

I was exhausted when we got back home, it was a long weekend for a Beastie! Tierney and I took the Central Oregon Breeze bus to Portland for the retreat and back home, and it is about a 4 hour bus ride (why does she live in the middle of nowhere?!?!).

But the best part of returning back home for me, was being reunited with my dog Mikelet who was so happy to see me!

2018-10-28_20-09-55_029 — I can feel the love!

Postscript

There are more posts to come about the retreat, this time by Tierney, but she and I are going to take a little break from blogging after 31+ days straight (and you can get a break from reading these crazy musings!).

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Special Events

Announcing the Winners of the tierneycreates Blog’s 5th Anniversary Giveaway

November 1, 2018December 2, 2019 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Random Drawing Winners of Five Giveaways

This morning Terry the Quilting Husband (TTQH) did the drawing of the names of the winners of the FIVE (5) Giveaways to celebrate the tierneycreates Blog’s 5th anniversary.

Names were drawn from those who left comments on the five (5) posts and below are the randomly drawn winners by post:

5th Blog Anniversary Giveaway #1

Claudia McGill @Claudia McGill

5th Blog Anniversary Giveaway #5

Pat T.

The posts are linked above the winner’s names in case you need to refer back and see exactly what you have won!

Special Recognition Giveaways

Top Commenters

To celebrate the tierneycreates blog 5th anniversary I posted daily for 31 days and that is a lot of posts for people to endure, I mean read! Thank you so much to everyone who read and commented on the 31 days of posts in October!

TTQH and I did a 6th surprise drawing based on the “Top Recent Commenters” according to my WordPress stats:

We did a random drawing from the names above, and the winner of the 6th drawing is Mary @zippyquilts. Mary can select a little wallet and a choice of a set of my art quilt cards or a miniature kimono.

One more special recognition

As a special thank you to someone who has followed me for nearly 5 years (one of my first 5 followers), I am giving Claire @knitnkwilt a little wallet and a choice of a set of my art quilt cards or a miniature kimono!

Instructions for the Drawing Winners

Please use the Questions/Contact Me form to send me your mailing address as well as your full name for mailing purposes. I will not use your name and address for anything other than mailing you your drawing winning.

Also please let me know what color little wallet you would like and an alternate color. If you won a miniature kimono, please let me know what color you would prefer. My final selection of what to send you will be based on availability.

And if you decide you do not want the prize or that you do not want to provide your mailing information (I will not be offended, it is okay), let me know and we will draw an alternate winner from the other names.