It’s the middle of the night. Suddenly you bolt up in bed, your sheets drenched with your cold sweat…unable to return to sleep.

Why?

Because, you are still anxiously waiting for the conclusion to my series of posts Tula Time!

So for the three of you reading this blog who remember this series of posts (smile), I thought I would close out this series with three posts about the three quilts that my quilting friends Dana, Judy and I made from our collection of Tula Pink All Stars Fat Quarters.

A year ago at my friend Laurie’s vacation property in Sunriver, Oregon, I had a weekend quilt retreat with two of my Washington based quilting sisters. At this retreat Judy, Dana and I worked on our quilt blocks created from the Tula Pink All Stars fabric line.

I wrote several blog posts about this retreat in case you would like read them

Tula Pink “All Stars” Retreat (Part I)

Tula Pink “All Stars” Retreat (Part II)

Well we’ve all finished the quilts and they have been professionally long-arm quilted and in this series of posts I will share some images.

Dana’s Quilt: Tula All Stars

Dana named her quilt Tula All Stars and created 36 star pattern blocks for her quilt.

Dana was the first to finish her quilt top – as a matter of fact, she began making her star block at our Quilting Sister Retreat in Vancouver Washington in May 2018 as I shared in these posts:

Pl ease Vote On The Color!

The Votes Are In!

Here is photo of her initial blocks she made during the May 2018 retreat:

Dana was the first to finish her quilt top but the last to sew down her binding after she got it back from the long-arm quilter. I kept harassing her for photos so I could feature her quilt in a series of posts to close out the story.

She texted me a photo a couple weeks ago of her working hard to get the binding sewn down to complete the quilt and take photos for me:

Recently Dana sent me the photos of the photoshoot she did for me of her completed quilt, which was beautifully quilted by Krista Moser (who quilted all three of our Tula Pink All Stars fabric quilts).

Beautiful, huh?

Next post I will share images of Judy’s quilt, Tula Outside the Box.

Aren’t you glad you are finally going to get a decent night sleep now that you know what became of the three quilts from our Tula Pink themed retreat last September? (I am addressing the three people who remember my series of posts from last year, ha!)

Postscript

Just in case you’ve never heard of Tula Pink, she is a popular quilting fabric designer and teacher. I was fortunate enough to meet her a couple of years ago at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show 40th Anniversary event when I lived in Central Oregon.

My friend Dana is a huge Tula Pink fan and has worked with her fabrics for years. She even has a collection of early/”vintage”/rare Tula Pink fabrics and belongs to a Tula Pink aficionado online group.

Through friends she met in this group, several weeks ago, she was able to attend a Tula Pink quilt retreat in Alaska – with Tula Pink herself! She took her daughter Kaite with her and Dana was kind enough to provide me with this collage of photos from that event to share in this post:

For a long time Tula Pink fan this was an incredible experience for Dana!

Studio, tierneycreates

New Studio

August 30, 2019June 22, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

As a follow up to my previous post Morning Walk in Black and White, where I mentioned that I am now living in a house and have a new quilting studio, in this post I am sharing photos of my new studio.

When I moved into my new housing situation earlier this summer, the first thing my new roommate did was build a design wall in the back bedroom he offered to me as my studio:

One of his hobbies is wood working and he also offered to build me a center cutting table. I said “let me use what I brought with me for now (fold up tables) and see how the rooms develops”.

The rest of this post is a photo tour of my new studio. You may notice the strong turquoise like color on the wall. The room came with that color and since someday my roommate is thinking of selling his home and us possibly moving to a new home together, I declined his offer to paint the room a neutral color at this time.

To embrace the turquoise color for now, I hung my Tula Pink All Stars fabric quilt (which has a LOT of turquoise and aqua in it) on the wall as you will see in the images below. If you are new to this blog, the saga of its quilt is in this series of posts – Tula Time!. By the way – my friends Judy and Dana have also finished their Tula Pink quilts and I will share images in a future post.

So here is the photo tour of my “temporary” new studio. If we end up moving to a new home together someday, I am going to design my new studio to be my dream studio this time (if I learned anything from the tragic and sudden loss of my husband in 2018, it is that life is short and you need to live your dreams, do not wait!). Since my roommate, who I should actually start referring to as “my partner”, loves to build things, I plan to take full advantage of his skills for my dream studio design!

As you can see in several of the photos above, I repurposed an old armoire into crafting and fat quarter storage. I also repurposed an old card table found in the basement’s storage room into a center table.

That table also serves as a Mike the Miniature Schnauzer nesting space!

You might also remember in the photos above (but I am posting it below also), a short long black bookcase looking thing. This was an old CD/DVD storage bookshelf I found in my partner’s basement storage room that I repurposed to hold my favorite fat quarters (I have an obscenely large collection of fat quarters as I confessed in the post Quilt Studio Archaeology and Purge, Part III (re-post))

Postscript

In my preceding photos, you might have noticed a work in progress on the design wall. I will discuss it in a future post as I continue my series of posts What’s on the Design Wall.

Here is an additional photo I took during my photo shoot for this post of some of the recycled home decor fabrics I am considering for this piece (actually a series of pieces):

If you’ve been following my blog for a long time and have a scary supernatural level of memory, you might remember these pieces from this post – What’s Simmering on the Design Wall.

Life in B&W, Sunflowers!

Morning Walk in Black and White

August 18, 2019August 19, 2019 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Continuing my series of posts Life in B&W, I thought I was share some images from a recent morning walk near where I am now living in the Denver Greater Metropolitan area.

But first I thought I would share some news/update you on my life…

I’ve Moved – from Urban to Suburban

Those of you who followed my blog for a while know that earlier this year (April 2019) I moved from Central Oregon to the greater Denver Metropolitan area, after my husband Terry suddenly passed in December 2018.

I moved from a home in Central Oregon to a two-bedroom apartment in the Denver area. and tried to stay positive about a new “living on my own apartment adventure” (the first time I’ve lived on my own in my life). However, little did I know how much I would dislike apartment living after living in a home most of my life. As well as how much I would dislike living without another human in my residence.

Mike my miniature schnauzer disliked apartment living also – he missed having a backyard to play ball in. Early morning, during the day and late in the evening, I had to take him on either a quick or longer walk for him to “do his business” and this became tedious. Additionally there were sketchy areas and a large homeless population near where I was living. Mike and I had one scary experience where a homeless man from the park near my apartment followed us for several blocks in a stalking manner.

In May I met a friend at the new Spousal Loss Grief Support group I was attending in the Denver area who also loss his spouse and was interested in having a roommate for his large house. He had a nice backyard that backed up onto a green space and walking trail and he really liked Miniature Schnauzers (his favorite dog breed)!

So a couple months ago I left my apartment in an urban area and moved to the suburbs and I am very happy (and so is Mike).

Plus it is wonderful to have a roommate who understands the depth of the grief of losing their spouse/lifetime partner and we’ve been a great support to each other. It is not something I want anyone to experience in order to understand. As I’ve discussed with numerous other widows and widowers, unless you’ve personally experienced this unique and devastating loss, you absolutely do not have a clue (and you are not in any position to offer any life advice to someone who has lost their spouse, all you can do is support and respect them on their journey) or can even imagine what they are dealing with.

You will lose someone you can’t live without, and your heart will be badly broken, and the bad news is that you never completely get over the loss of your beloved. But this is also the good news. They live forever in your broken heart that doesn’t seal back up. And you come through. It’s like having a broken leg that never heals perfectly—that still hurts when the weather gets cold, but you learn to dance with the limp.― Anne Lamott

With that background, I can now share with you some images in B&W I took with my smartphone on a morning walk near my new residence (by the way, I thought I was going to live an edgier urban life but I am a suburban girl at heart.)

Morning Walk in Black & White

As part of my walk I had to go through a tunnel under the road to cross from one side of a busy street to the other. I was absolutely fascinated with the tunnel in B&W:

The tunnel was lined with bird nests, which also looked quite interesting in B&W:

Pretty cool, eh?

Postscript

Now that I live in a house, I also have a yard in order to plant things. One of the early thing I planted was sunflower seeds. If you are a longtime follower of my blog you might remember my obsession with sunflowers (see series of posts – Sunflowers!)

Recently the first sunflower from three large pots of sunflowers I planted has begun to bloom:

I suspect I might have a future post about sunflowers when all three pots of sunflowers are in bloom!

And speaking of future posts – I have a new studio in my new residence.

If you remember my posts from May 2019 (“Oh Scrap”, Part II and New “Studio” Tour and New Studio Tour, Part II) I shared images from my new apartment “Studio/Guest Bedroom”:

I now have a dedicated Studio – a room for creating that I do not have to share with any guest – ha! So I will do a future post about my Studio, but here is a sneak peak with an image of the design wall my roommate built me and a work in progress:

Quilt Shop Tours

Fancy Tiger Crafts, Denver CO

August 9, 2019June 22, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

As promised in my previous post, this post will be about TEXTILES!

A couple of months ago, my dear quilting sister Dana was visiting the Denver, Colorado area (see post Greetings from Colorado) and we got together with her and her daughter Kaite (and darling grandchild) and went to a magical crafting shop in downtown Denver – Fancy Tiger Crafts.

This was my first visit to this shop as I am new to the Denver Metropolitan area.

Upon entering the shop, I quickly realized that if your needs are related to the textile arts – they have it: spinning, knitting, needlework, other needle arts, dressmaking, quilting, bag making, etc.

Here detailed look inside their shop (which we suspect is outside the normal space-time continuum because we spent a lot longer in the shop that we thought we did…).

Knitting, Spinning, Crocheting, Felting, Wool Craft

And don’t forget the spinning wheel!

Dressmaking & Garment Sewing

Quilting

Other Fun Stuff in the Shop

The shop also had all sort of fun things – like cool tote bags:

And Crafter Merit Badges!

I bought this one:

I loved the decor – here are a couple images of the fun and funky decorations in the shop:

Photos of Friends Shopping

Here are a couple photos of my friend Dana delightfully shopping at Fancy Tiger Crafts for the first time:

Her talented crafter daughter Kaite and Kaite’s delightful 4 year old daughter selected this fabric during our shopping adventure for matching outfits:

We tried to leave the shop after we made our initial purchases several times. Something kept drawing us back as we tried to leave the shop. I think we revisited the counter/register at least twice!

A Return Visit

After my initial visit, which I did post some photos from on my @tierneycreates Instagram account, my Central Oregon friends Wendy and Pat sent me gift cards for Fancy Tiger Crafts!

So a couple of weeks ago I returned on my own and bought some goodies:

All pieces are canvas weight and I am thinking about some cool pouches or tote bags with these remnants.

Postscript

If you’ve following my blog for a while and Dana’s name sounds familiar, she has been featured in several other posts include the series of posts – Tula Time! (someday I need to post her completed Tula Pink All Stars quilt as well as my friend Judy’s completed quilt); and more recently Fabric Fangirl Frenzy.

A Crafter's Life

Salt of the Earth

August 4, 2019August 4, 2019 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I began drafting this post prior to the recent series of deadly mass shootings across the United States. I am eager to return to blogging, however I thought this was too an upbeat a post to make in light of the recent somber events.

Then I thought – perhaps during these dark times it is good to post a reminder about the good people in the world we meet in our daily lives…

Dictionary.com defines the term “salt of the earth” as follows:

“An individual or group considered as representative of the best or noblest elements of society.”

This term wonderfully describes the kind of people I’ve met and keep meeting since moving to Colorado.

iStock-1063332628-1 — Colorado State Flag, zumper.com

If you are new to my blog, I moved to the greater Denver metropolitan area in April 2019 to start a new life after the sudden death of my husband (Terry the Quilting Husband) and over the past several months I’ve been settling into my new life and exploring the region (see post Greetings from Colorado and the series of posts Colorado Bound).

I knew Colorado was an awesome state with lots to do, little did I know just how warm, friendly and helpful many of its residents are!

Let me share an example (actually multiple examples).

Schnauzerfest!

Moving to Colorado meant leaving my beloved veterinary office and finding a new vet for my Miniature Schnauzer, Mike. I selected a vet based on Google reviews and comments and I was not disappointed.

During Mike’s first visit to his new vet. she connected me with a group of local Miniature Schnauzer aficionados which included one of her best friends. Mike and I got invited to the annual Miniature Schnauzer Club picnic which was like attending “Miniature Schnauzer Fest”!

The photos below will illustrate this better than I could describe and Mike enjoyed hanging out with his new friends, after he recovered from the shock of so many furry people that looked like him in one place!

We met so many wonderful, warm and friendly people at the Miniature Schnauzer Club picnic including a new dog groomer for Mike.

A Proper Grooming

I’ve struggled with finding a good dog groomer for my dog Mike. If you want a Miniature Schnauzer to look like a traditional Miniature Schnauzer, you need groom your dog regularly.

A couple months ago, I tried out a mobile groomer and unfortunately Mike was groomed more like a Bichon Frise instead of a Miniature Schnauzer:

Bichon Frise:

viktor-talashuk--gxRa1vV0KA-unsplash — Photo by Viktor Talashuk on Unsplash

Miniature Schnauzer:

I tried to fix the disappointing grooming myself but Mike ended up looking like a blindfolded, highly sedated dog groomer did the grooming!

Luckily at the Miniature Schnauzer Picnic, I met Carol, a highly seasoned dog groomer with extensive experience in grooming Miniature Schnauzers including competitive show dogs. She even showed a couple dogs herself at the Westminster Dog Show years ago.

We tried to schedule an appointment but had one challenge – she only had spots open in the middle of the week and she lives 32 miles away from me. I telecommute for my work in the health care industry and my middle of the week is peppered with conference calls.

She has a dog grooming station inside her home and she suggested that I come telecommute at her house for the morning/day while she groomed Mike!

And so I did! Not only did she let me telecommute from her house while she lovingly and meticulously groomed Mike, but she even gave me beverages and snacks – homemade lemon poppyseed cake!

I had so much fun telecommuting from her kitchen table while we discussed life and miniature schnauzers! Here are some photos of Mike transforming into a properly groomed Miniature Schnauzer!

In addition to great conversation, exceptional dog grooming, and wonderful snacks – she also gave me a tour of her lovely garden and gave me a bag of fresh garlic from her garden to take home!

She hand washed Mike’s collar before she began grooming him and had me hang it on the clothesline in the garden to dry!

Finally, as an added bonus, she has 4 or so of her own Miniature Schnauzers, so there was lots of Miniature Schnauzer cuteness going on at her home!

I got three of them to stand still for a photo:

Of course every proper Miniature Schnauzer Aficionado has lots of Schnauzer related decorations in their home and she was no exception:

I know this post was likely “Schnauzer Overload” and hopefully you will quickly recover (smile).

My telecommuting visit with my new dog groomer and the opportunity to hang out with other Miniature Schnauzer Aficionados (or perhaps “Obsessives” in a more accurate term) has only increased my feeling of being so “welcomed” to Colorado.

Every day I continue to meet warm, friendly, kind, generous, and welcoming, “salt of the earth” people in this state.

But these few are the salt of the earth; without them, human life would become a stagnant pool. Not only is it they who introduce good things which did not before exist, it is they who keep the life in those which already existed. – John Stuart Mill

Postscript

I promise my next post will be crafting/quilting related!

The tagline of my blog for tierneycreates is “a fusion of textiles and smiles“. I hope this post induced a little smile across your face. The “textiles” part will return next post!

Feature Photo by Jason Tuinstra on Unsplash

A Crafter's Life, Outside Adventures!

Greetings from Colorado

June 26, 2019November 15, 2023 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Hello Blogging Buddies! Long time no hear, right?

Well I’ve been busy settling into my home in the Greater Denver Metropolitan Area (if you are new to this blog see my series of post “Colorado Bound“). Now I am ready to return to blogging about my Colorado, crafting and other adventures.

First Visitors

So far I’ve had four visitors since I’ve moved to Colorado.

My first visitor was my brother Raoul, who was in Denver for a business meeting the same day I moved into my apartment! So along with my friend Jason and a couple others, he helped unpack me! I forgot to take photos during his brief one day visit, so none to share.

My second visitor was my sister and we had fun taking my miniature Mike in his backpack into downtown Denver via the light rail and wander around sightseeing. Here is my sister Rianna with Mike her back:

My sister (by the way I have one sister and one brother and we are all very close) is exceptionally fun and we had a blast during her visit.

She enjoys shopping adventures and we even took Mike with us to a store called Nordstroms Rack and made him go shoe shopping with us!

We also both enjoy going to thrift shops (see my series of posts Thrift Shop Adventures) and had a laugh at these shoes we found at a thrift shop chain store called Buffalo Exchange:

These shoes would be perfect for running, don’t you agree??!?!?!

My sister is exceptionally more glamorous than me, and here we are attending Trivia Night at a local pub (we came in last place in trivia but had a blast):

2019-05-01_21-02-43_814 — My sister on left, me on right (note we’ve been drinking adult beverages all evening, ha!)

My third visitor was my “Quilting Sister” Dana who was visiting her daughter who also lives in the Greater Denver Metro area. I will have a separate post about that visit as we had a wonderful outing to a very cool crafting shop!

But here is a preview (Dana craft shop shopping):

My fourth visitor was my friend Jenny who came for a long weekend. She is very outdoor adventurous so we went for a short hike in the Flatiron mountain area of Boulder, Colorado as well as explored downtown Boulder.

Here are photos from our hike/wander about Chautauqua Park:

I love this series of photos I took as Jenny took in the amazing views:

Here we are wandering around the Pearl Street Mall area in Boulder, Colorado:

My next visitor will be my original “Quilting Sister” Judy – the woman who taught me how to quilt. She visits in August.

I will be busy traveling a bit in July but I am going to plan to attempt (that sounds so committed doesn’t it?) to keep up with my blog and also catch up on the blogs I follow.

Postscript

Are you surprised that my tierneycreates Beastie (see Beastie Adventures) has not stepped in and written a post? She has been busy herself and she will have a future post of her adventures in the future.

Oh and yes, this is primarily a quilting/crafting blog and perhaps someday I will share a post about such topics (smile).

Quilt Shop Tours

Hawaiian Quilt Exhibit: Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum

May 19, 2019May 19, 2019 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

According to Wikipedia:

A Hawaiian quilt is a distinctive quilting style of the Hawaiian Islands that uses large radially symmetric applique patterns. Motifs often work stylized botanical designs in bold colors on a white background.

Hawaiian quilt applique is made from a single cut on folded fabric.Quilting stitches normally follow the contours of the applique design

The other day I paid a visit to the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum in Golden, Colorado for the first time, and saw an incredible exhibit of Hawaiian Quilts.

Most of the quilts were from the 1930s and 1940s but there were several from the late 1800s.

Here are photos of many of the quilts in the exhibit. Most of them were Queen-bed sized, though a several appeared to be King-sized bed quilts and there were several wallhanging sized pieces.

The quilts were absolutely amazing!

After wandering around the exhibit, I stopped in the gift shop which was also a miniature quilt shop.

While browsing the gift shop, I discovered this book – an exhibition catalog for the show Rooted in Tradition: Art Quilts from the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum.

I ended up buying the book as not only did it contain amazing art quilts and profiles of quilters, but there were also at least three renown quilters in it that I’ve met and admired for a while:

Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi
Ed Johnetta Miller
Wendy Hill

I am so lucky in my art quilting journey so far I’ve had such fortunate brushes with greatness and inspirational talent in the quilting medium!

If you are a quilter, or someone who loves quilts, if you happen to be in the Denver area, I highly recommend a visit to the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum!

Beastie Adventures, Special Events

Solo Show, Part IV – Pieces Sold

May 18, 2019May 18, 2019 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I have some wonderful news to share and a follow up to my series of posts about my current solo show at the Seattle Municipal Tower in downtown Seattle, Washington (most recent post Solo Show Seattle Municipal Tower, Part III).

The City of Seattle is purchasing three of my pieces made from recycled silks:

COLOR STORY I: FLYING TRIANGLES

COLOR STORY II: SILK LANDSCAPE

COLOR STORY IV: COLOR CHANGE

These pieces will become part of the City of Seattle’s permanent rotating art collection, like my piece that they purchased in 2016 – COLOR STORY V: ABANDONED WATER STRUCTURE:

Since 2016 this piece has rotated display through the City of Seattle’s offices. I was informed that currently it is on display at the City of Seattle Courthouse.

There are no words that would capture my excitement and the honor I feel that my pieces were selected for purchase. The whole experience has been magical. The City of Seattle’s Office of Arts & Culture reached out to me about the solo show (which at first I misunderstood that they were inviting me to be part of a show with other artists).

I am so incredibly grateful to the coordinator of the Ethnic Heritage Arts Gallery, the Curator for the Office of Arts of Culture, and the talented person who hung my art quilts so beautifully at the Seattle Municipal Tower.

In addition to the three pieces being purchased by the City of Seattle, I also have two private collector purchases pending/in the works for these two pieces:

RECYCLED DENIM STORY III: RECYCLED ROAD

COLOR STORY VI: ARCHAEOLOGICAL DIG – THE VESSEL

I am also very honored that several friends of mine want to have my art in their homes!!!!

Now I need to make more art as my available collection is dwindling (and that is a good thing!)

Postscript

This is a follow up to yesterday’s post Another Beastie Blogging Intervention: New Studio Tour, Part III.

No need for any petitions, tierneycreates Beastie and I have been in negotiations for a new space for her and Mikelet to hang out.

I’ve moved them to the cutting area in my sewing area to hang out. Though this sounds like a potentially dangerous idea in case she begins playing with my rotary cutter – see post Guest Blogger: October Quilt Retreat Part II…

2018-10-25_15-03-23_912 — A friend at a quilt retreat handing a Beastie a rotary cutter…not the best idea…

Now I am just using the plastic box to store her off season clothes (her Aran sweater and hat beautiful knitted by Helen @Crawcrafts Beasties!)

Beastie Adventures, Guest Blogger

Another Beastie Blogging Intervention: New Studio Tour, Part III

May 17, 2019August 13, 2020 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Yes I know in her post New Studio Tour, Part II, Tierney threatened to post daily until she caught up on posts. Her friend Martha (@marthaginn.blogspot.com) rightly doubted her, but Tierney was convinced it was going to happen.

Well she fell off the “blogging wagon” again so it is time for me to intervene AGAIN.

Most of you know me, but if you are new to this blog, my name is tierneycreates Beastie and I am a Monster, but the good kind of Monster. You can read my story at I’m A Monster!!!. You can also check out the other posts I’ve had to guest blog on (when Tierney fell off the wagon) in the series of posts: Beastie Adventures.

I thought I would continue her series of posts about her new Studio (also known as her guest room with the dangerous carpeting potentially filled with sewing pins and needles) in her new Colorado apartment.

The reason why I am continuing this series as I want you to see where she has me living – you will likely be appalled!

Okay, since I want most of this post to be about me (because that is how Beasties are – it is all about us – just check out the blogs Crawcrafts Beasties and Tammie Painter and you will see what I mean!) I am going to begin with where I live in her studio: IN A BOX!

Yes, and I know you are shocked, she has Mikelet my miniature Miniature Schnauzer and I living in a plastic shoe box!

Most of the time I am standing up looking out like this:

But sometimes she just has me stored like this in the closet:

I hope you all won’t stop reading/following her blog in disgust! No worries, I am going to keep trying to convince her to let me (and Mikelet) wander free around her apartment as well as go on as many Beastie adventures in Colorado as possible.

I recently discovered she went to the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum and did not take me! If I can get Tierney back on track with blogging, she will share photos from her tour of the current amazing exhibit of Hawaiian quilts.

In case you are interested in other stuff in her studio besides me and Mikelet, here are details of some other things she has done to organize her studio.

Organizing Scraps

Tierney did tie on a color scraps to the handle of the baskets holding scraps to indicate the colors inside, thanks to an awesome suggestion from one of her readers.

Due to limited space, she had to group colors of scraps together and here is the organization scheme she went with:

Black and Gray
White and Cream
Black & White fabric scraps
Yellow, Brown and Orange
Purple, Pink and Red
Green (interestingly the largest volume of scraps she has are green scraps)
Blue, Teal and Aqua

She also created tags for the baskets which contain multiple colors of scraps such as her collections of Batik scraps, art fabric scraps (like Marcia Derse fabrics – see post Fabric Fangirl Frenzy) and shot cottons/linens scraps.

And here is a peek inside one of her crazy scrap baskets (her art fabrics scraps):

Yardage Fabrics and Coordinating Smaller Pieces

Tierney has limited space in her new apartment and is storing her fabric in tubs by color or theme in her two guest room closets. She does not really have the space at the time to pull out all her fabrics and organize them like she did in her Central Oregon home.

Project in Queue

She did buy some hanging wire shelves to keep her “projects in queue” organized:

I will try to get Tierney back on track as she still has a huge backlog of stuff to post about. I am just glad I got to take a break from being stuck in the closet!

(Not to mention she has a LOT of “projects in queue”…)

Postscript

The real reason Tierney has not been blogging as she has been goofing off and exploring the greater Denver metro area she now lives. Here she is last weekend taking big Mike on a bike ride in his backpack around the area.

I had to ask her for this photo since Mikelet and I were not invited!!!!

Books, Music, Podcasts, Library Adventures

New Library Stack and Option B

May 13, 2019May 14, 2019 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

NEW Library Stack

I am ready to continue my ongoing series, The Library Stack, sharing my stack of borrowed books from my local public library. This is my first stack from my NEW local library in the Denver greater metro area!

I live within walking distance of a public library branch and last week I wandered over and selected my first stack! It was so fun to walk back home with my stack:

So far I’ve finished browsing through the books The Quilting Arts Idea Book by Vivika Hansen Denegre and Global Bohemian by Fifi O’Neill. I enjoyed both of these books immensely! Lots of art quilt and decorating inspiration!

As my library is so close, I will probably keep my library stacks small instead of the mega library stacks I used to borrow from previous Central Oregon public library (which I transported home by car). I love the idea of being able to quickly walk to the library!

Option B

It’s been a while since I shared a recent audiobook listen and I am currently listening to a fantastic audiobook (borrowed from the library of course) – Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resistance, and Finding Joy by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant.

If Sheryl Sandberg’s name sounds familiar, she is the former Google executive and Facebook Chief Operations Officer who wrote the wildly popular book Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. Several years following her success from that book and becoming an internationally known speaker, writer and business mogul, her beloved husband suddenly and unexpectedly passed, just like how I lost my husband in December 2018.

This book is about how she faced her grief, rebuilt her life and achieved “post-traumatic growth”. The interesting thing is I tried to read this book over a year ago (before my loss) and lost interest in it after a couple chapters. Now I am devouring it and gaining a lot of insight.

I can relate on so many level to what Sheryl Sandberg shares in her first hand account of experiencing one of the most awful things that can happen to you – losing your life partner. I do not think I was ready to read/listen to this book until now. I like to think that the Universe is helping give me what I need when I am ready for it.

What is Option B? Well Option A would be for your loved one to still be alive. But Option A is not available. So you have to find your Option B.

“Option A is not available. so let’s just kick the sh*t out of Option B.”
“Life is never perfect. We all live some form of Option B.”

I will close out this post with a couple additional quotes from this powerful book.

“Resilience comes from deep within us and from support outside us. It comes from gratitude for what’s good in our lives and from leaning in to the suck. It comes from analyzing how we process grief and from simply accepting that grief. Sometimes we have less control than we think. Other times we have more. I learned that when life pulls you under, you can kick against the bottom, break the surface, and breathe again.”

“…post-traumatic growth could take five different forms: finding personal strength, gaining appreciation, forming deeper relationships, discovering more meaning in life, and seeing new possibilities.”

“Some things in life cannot be fixed. They can only be carried.”

Finally, here is one of my favorite quotes from the book so far:

“I am more vulnerable than I thought, but much stronger than I ever imagined.”

A Crafter's Life

Apartment Quilt Tour

May 12, 2019May 13, 2019 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

As many of you know who have followed my blog for a while, in December 2018 my husband, my life-partner, and best friend who was also known on this blog as “Terry the Quilting Husband” (he was a quilter also) suddenly and unexpectedly passed.

Shortly after his passing I made the big life decision to relocate and a couple of weeks ago I moved (along with Mike my Miniature Schnauzer) from Central Oregon to the greater Denver metro area to start my new life.

Another major life change that occurred at the time of this move was to move from a house into an apartment. I’ve not lived in an apartment since I was in nursing school. Wait, I take that back, Terry and I did live in an apartment for a year when we first moved to Houston, Texas while he was in the military but as soon as we could we bought a house.

But that was still back in my 20s. And I am a wee bit older now than 20 – ha! Let’s just say I’ve lived in houses significantly longer than I lived in apartments.

I’m considering “apartment living” a year experiment. I did sign a year’s lease and during my year in the apartment I can decide what will be next in my living situation. I might buy a house on my own, I might stay in my apartment, I might rent a house instead of an apartment. We’ll see! (Your guess is as good as mine at this point).

I am rambling and you are probably waiting for the quilt tour that I promised. Let me just continue with a tiny bit more introduction to the tour.

To make my new apartment feel homey, I decorated it with many of the quilts I had on my walls at my house. As my apartment is smaller than my house, it might appear to some that I have an “intense concentration of quilts” on my walls and strewn about the house. I say “get over it, it makes me happy!”

So finally, here is the Apartment Quilt Tour:

MY ENTRYWAY/HALLWAY

The wood piece to the left of the quilt pictured above, was made by my friend Cody G. out of recycled pallet wood. What is extra cool about this piece, besides it is a lovely gift from a friend, is that he had no idea of the colors in the quilt next to it. He just took a guess on a palette that would work with the pallet piece (yes, you likely guessed I had to Google the spelling of palette as in a color palette vs. the spelling of wooden pallet – English is so complicated!)

In addition to quilts, I have some handmade small items in my entryway – one of my miniature kimonos and a collection of my miniature pillows. I used to sell these on my now closed tierneycreates Etsy shop.

HALLWAY TO THE KITCHEN AND HOME OFFICE AREA

On the way into the kitchen and in my home office area (I am a telecommuter), I have a couple quilts hung:

THE KITCHEN

In the small dining area attached to the kitchen I have a quilted wallhanging:

THE LIVING ROOM

There are layers of quilts in the living room as well as a couple on the wall.

The quilt pictured above was the first quilt that I had in book. Several of the blocks were featured in the book 1000 Quilting Inspirations by Sandra Sider, along with several of my first recycled silk art quilts.

THE MASTER BEDROOM

I discovered something very exciting: the Sunflower quilt wallhanging I thought I had accidentally donated to a Central Oregon charity thrift shop was actually just packed away in a strange place. When I finally full unpacked I found it! So I put it up using Command Strips on the door to my bedroom!

I have what some might consider a ridiculous amount of quilts up on the wall of my bedroom, but them make me happy!

Oh I should mention – you might gasp that some of the quilts are not hung properly. Some have wooden hangers (which use a marble inside to hold the quilt in place), while some are hung up with…gasp…thumb tacks!

Do not worry, the thumb tack hangings are only temporary, I just wanted to make sure I liked where they were hung before I mounted the wooden hangers.

And finally the space I’ve shared already in a previous post – the guest room/studio.

GUEST ROOM/STUDIO

In addition to quilts I’ve made, I also have some special quilts that friends have made up on the walls. I completely forgot to photographed those for this post, but I figured I have shown you enough quilts up on my wall for now (smile).

Special Events

Fabric Fangirl Frenzy

May 11, 2019May 12, 2019 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Time to step back and catch up you up on some of my adventures from the past several months.

At the end of February I joined my Seattle area based friends Judy and Dana at the 2019 Sew & Stitchery Expo in Puyallup, Washington.

I will share photos from the 2019 Expo in a future post but this post about how I became a crazed FABRIC FANGIRL when I got to meet my favorite fabric designer Marcia Derse at the Expo!

I’ve loved Marcia Derse fabrics for many years and first discovered them at the Stitchin’ Post in Sisters, Oregon when I lived in Central Oregon.

I’ve made several quilts with her fabrics, such as this one below:

I also have a ridiculous collection of fat quarters of her fabrics (collected over the years from the Stitchin’ Post) and some yardage including prints and solids:

So when I saw that she had a booth at the 2019 Sew & Stitchery Expo I had to go introduce myself as her “biggest fabric fan” and generally embarrass myself with my fabric fangirl frenzy. I did not even know she was going to be at Expo – what an incredible surprise as I wandered through all the booths with my friends.

She was very humble and gracious and showed me her new fabric line as well as existing fabric lines (which I was quite familiar):

She also had on display some of her amazing quilts made with her fabrics:

I dragged my friend Dana over to introduce her to Marcia Derse and her fabric line and before you know it, Marcia was helping Dana select fabrics for an impromptu quilt idea:

Dana left the booth with a nice collection of Marcia Derse fabrics:

Of course I left the booth with fabrics – including Marcia Derse’s new spectacular art prints:

It was very exciting to have Marcia herself packaging up my fabric!

Here are my new acquisitions with my existing collection of Marcia Derse fabrics:

Postscript

We ran into my friend, New York Times Best Selling Author Marie Bostwick at Sew Expo and had her autograph a book for my friend Lisa, who is one of her biggest fans.

Judy, Dana and I spent time with Marie at our Tula Pink Quilt Retreat in September 2018 (see post Tula Pink “All Stars” Retreat (Part II))

By the way if you’d like to see my series of posts from the 2018 Sew & Stitchery Expo, see the links below:

Sewing & Stitchery Expo 2018, Part I

Sewing & Stitchery Expo 2018, Part II

Studio

New Studio Tour, Part II

May 10, 2019May 10, 2019 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Quick follow up to my May 7th post – “Oh Scrap”, Part II and New “Studio” Tour.

Thanks everyone for their comments!

I took the advice of @KNITNKWILT and removed the quotes from around the word “Studio” in the title of this follow up post – I am just going to accept it is my STUDIO.

I am still giggling over the advice and comments from @CEDAR51:

I would remove “guest room” and say outright to a guest “yes, I have space in my workroom for you to stay…but tread carefully there maybe the odd pin on the floor (or similar)”

Additionally I took the awesome advice of @ANNE54 and tied a scrap of the color of the fabric scraps in the basket to the little basket handle on front to quickly identify what color is in the basket:

After my previous post, I began working on the cleaning up the edges of the quilt I got professional long-arm quilted before I moved from Central Oregon to Colorado in my new kitchen cutting station:

I really like my kitchen cutting station (and my master bedroom ironing station I shared in the previous post).

I have the binding machine stitched to the quilt now and now I am working on sewing down the binding by hand in the evenings while watching TV with Mike the Miniature Schnauzer.

One thing that is pretty clear – I have a lot of quilts, afghans and pillows in my apartment. What used to be spread about a three-bedroom home is now condensed into my smaller apartment!

For example – here is the bench at the back of my sofa in my living room. You can see the quilt that I am currently hand sewing the binding down in the middle of the back of the sofa.

Postscript

Be warned – I am going to try to post daily for a while to try and catch up on all the posts I have in my head (quite the backlog!)

Studio

“Oh Scrap”, Part II and New “Studio” Tour

May 7, 2019May 9, 2019 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

These two topics – Oh, Scrap, Part II and New “Studio” Tour, were going to be two different posts but I decided to combine them into one post since they are sort of tied together.

I’ve been getting settled into my new apartment in the greater Denver metro area and I guess I’ve completed my series of posts “Colorado Bound” as now I am in Colorado!

I’ve never lived alone in my entire life, so it has been a huge transition now living alone, but I am trying to embrace it and enjoy that I can set up my apartment however I desire.

Those of you who’ve followed my blog for a long time (some of you for over 5+ years) might remember what my craft/quilt studio area looked like in my former Central Oregon home (which by the way has sold and is now someone else’s home). It was in a small back bedroom in my three-bedroom home, but it worked for me.

Now living in a two-bedroom apartment my best choice for a studio area was to turn my second bedroom into a guest room/studio area. I will give a little tour of that new space in this post, but first I want to share a follow up to post from January 2018 – “Oh Scrap“.

Oh Scrap, Part II

It is always an ongoing challenge to find the best way to organize my…extensive? ridiculous? pathologically large? fabric scrap collection. I’ve experimented with various iterations of fabric scrap organization including organizing them by color into boxes like these:

Or just throwing them all together into a large bag:

As you can imagine, unless you just want to work with random scraps, the “all in one bag” idea did not work for me.

However as I was packing up for my move to Colorado, I came up with an idea: why not use this old shelf unit I had in my sun room in my former house (which easily disassembles for moving) with the baskets I used to store magazines in, to organize and easily access my fabric scraps?

And here is the unit in the guest bedroom/studio of my new apartment:

I have my fabric scraps organized by color or theme (i.e. I have a basket of light batik scraps and a basket of dark batik scraps, etc.).

Now for the rest of the room.

New “Studio” Tour

I put the word “studio” in quotes because I am using this term loosely. It’s not really a studio per se but a place to sew in my guest bedroom, where I’ve used the guest bedroom closets to store my fabric and crafting supplies.

I embraced the concept of “Whole House Crafting” (which I previously discussed in the June 2016 post Whole House Crafting) and put a larger cutting area on my large kitchen island and an ironing station in my master bedroom.

Mike the Miniature Schnauzer wanted to share that he approves of the guest room/studio space as it meets his coziness standards!

He also appreciates the schnauzer themed decor!

Postscript

Speaking of coziness (or “cosiness” for my friends on the other side of the pond), I thought I would share a little follow up to the February 2019 post From “Orphan Blocks” to Pillows.

A couple of months ago I made these two little pillows from leftover blocks from a quilt I made many years ago:

Well Mike is now enjoying one of the pillows as his napping pillow!

Not sure he wanted to be disturbed but I just had to take a photo!

Shows and Exhibits, WCQN

Visioning Human Rights in the New Millennium – Book is Released!

April 30, 2019September 27, 2021 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Run, don’t walk, to your nearest online bookstore (Barnes & Noble, Powells, Amazon, etc.) and buy the recently released book for the WCQN exhibit Visioning Human Rights in the New Millennium: Quilting the World’s Conscience by Dr. Carolyn L. Mazloomi.

My piece “The Lesson & The Equation” is on pages 18 and 19; in addition to many mind blowing and powerful pieces.

This book and nationally touring exhibit celebrates the 70th anniversary of the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Can you tell my excitement? You know of course this advertisement is tongue-in-cheek but if you are interested you can find this book on several online bookstores.

If you are new to this blog, the story behind this exhibit, my piece, and samples of other amazing pieces in this national traveling show can be found on these posts:

Visioning Human Rights in the New Millennium, Part I

Visioning Human Rights in the New Millennium, Part II

Visioning Human Rights in the New Millennium, Part III

Visioning Human Rights in the New Millennium, Part IV

Currently the exhibit is at Texas Folklife in Austin, Texas (see post The Lesson & The Equation at Texas Folklife):

53392959_2299124413460812_8246432247356325888_n — Photo courtesy of Jas Mardis

Beastie Adventures

Beastie Adventures – Seattle Public Library

April 27, 2019April 27, 2019 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Do not panic, Tierney is not going to drop again from blogging. It’s just that I want to share this post about my visit last week to the AMAZING Seattle Public Library.

By the way, this is the tierneycreates Beastie guest blogging on this post. If you are new to this blog you can read more about me on this post – I’m A Monster!!!.

As you saw in Tierney’s recent post, Solo Show Seattle Municipal Tower, Part III, she stopped at the downtown Seattle Public Library, known as the “Central Library” for a wander before her solo show opening.

Architecturally the library is amazing and here is a tour by the Seattle Public Library:

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know how Tierney and I feel about public libraries (they are magical places). The Central Library has 10 floors open to the public and an extensive catalogue.

Much to my disappointment Tierney did not let me ride the escalators alone (and she kept close tabs on me) but here are photos from our hour wandering about the Central Library.

Library Exterior

The Directory

Riding the Escalators!

(I think I would have been perfectly fine riding on the escalators alone but Tierney was so controlling!)

Searching for the Crafting Section

Browsing the Crafting Section

Tierney was focused on the quilting section, while I looked through the knitting books (as I was knitted and I like book about my origins).

Tierney discovered several books that she wants to put on hold at her new local greater Denver metro area library:

Yes, before you know it, she will likely continue her series of posts The Library Stack with her borrowings from her new library!

Cafe and Gift Shop

Yes, the Central Library has a cafe and gift shop which supports the library foundation!

We had a great time even if Tierney did not let me ride the escalators on my own and she did not let me try and use my library card to borrow any books (see reminded me this was not our library).

Postscript

No worries, Tierney will return to catching up on sharing stories from her recent adventures in the next post! I will not let her slack off!

Shows and Exhibits, tierneytravels

Solo Show Seattle Municipal Tower, Part III

April 26, 2019September 27, 2021 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I am getting settled in my new Colorado apartment after relocating from Central Oregon to the Greater Denver Metro area.

Finally, here is the final post in my series of posts about my first solo show at the Seattle Municipal Tower’s Ethnic Heritage Art Gallery located at 700 5th Ave in downtown Seattle, Washington. The show is curated by the City of Seattle’s Office of Arts & Culture.

For more background on my invitation to my first solo show, please see the previous posts in the series – Solo Show Seattle Municipal Tower, Part I and Solo Show Seattle Municipal Tower, Part II.

Before the Show

I stayed with friends in West Seattle and as parking in downtown Seattle is crazy, even though they offered to loan me one of their cars, I took the bus to the event. I arrived early and had time to wander around the amazing downtown Seattle library (I will share photos from that wander in another post).

After wandering around the library with my tierneycreates Beastie (who loves libraries also – see posts Beastie Colorado Adventure Begins and Beastie Outing: Trip to the Library) it was time to head into the Seattle Municipal Tower for the show opening, but not without first taking some photos of the entry and this downtown Seattle skyscraper:

As you can see in my above selfie, I was pretty darn excited.

Show Opening: The Wardrobe Meets the Wall

The show (The Wardrobe Meets the Wall: Art Quilts Created from Recycled Clothing and Garment Manufacturing Samples) opened with a presentation by board members the the Ethnic Heritage Art Gallery board on background and mission of the gallery, and then an introduction about me and my work.

Next, after providing an overview of my work, I did a presentation on the story behind the show and working with recycled materials. Then did a walk through tour and presentation on all 12 pieces I have in the show, sharing the story behind each piece.

Here are photos from the show which is on display until 07/15/2019. The gallery did a wonderful job of creating large placards for each piece that provided my full artist statement so that visitors could read the full story behind each piece.

A nice crowd attended the opening which included board members of the Ethnic Heritage Art Gallery board, downtown Seattle workers, my work colleagues in the Seattle office of my employer, and longtime friends who live in Seattle. I enjoyed walking the crowd through the 12 pieces and telling the story behind each piece (and no one appeared to fall asleep).

The Gallery also provided an area for flyers and my business cards if anyone was interested. I had generic business card created for the show as these cards are accessible by the public who has access to the gallery.

Additionally here are some photos taken the day before the show opening right after the pieces were hung, by my friend Loren who works at the Seattle Municipal Tower:

The whole experience was exciting but a little exhausting. I’ve been in several art shows in the past and have attended openings but it is a different experience when you are the only artist and it is your show!

When the show closes 07/15/2019, a Seattle based friend is going to collect the pieces from the gallery and deliver them to me when she visits me in the Denver area in late July. I do have two buyers interested in several of the pieces so I might have a couple art quilt sales in the near future.

After the Show

After the show I met up with a large group of Seattle friends at a lovely Dim Sum restaurant in the University Village area – Din Tai Fung.

We sat for hours visiting and having wonderful conversations while dining on delicious Taiwanese cuisine such as these wonderful vegetable dumplings below:

Postscript

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I am settling into my new Colorado apartment. It has been an interesting transition from living in a house most of my life to now living in an apartment but so far, so good.

I wrote this blog post from my kitchen table this morning while eating breakfast and sipping on tea.

Mike my miniature schnauzer is getting used to all these people and dogs living in “his house” (he thinks the whole inside the apartment complex is his home but for some reason he and I only live in one section of it – ha!).

Beastie Adventures, Colorado Bound

Beastie Colorado Adventure Begins

April 17, 2019April 17, 2019 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I’ve discovered it is going to take more than the Beastie Blogging Intervention that I posted on 04/13/19. Tierney has still not returned to blogging during her move to Colorado. So I have to intervene again and update you all. (By the way, Tierney did find my shoe before we left Central Oregon).

We are currently in phase one of our move to Colorado. All of Tierney’s stuff is packed up and traveling via moving truck, with her car in tow, to her new home in the Denver metro area. Her awesome longtime friend Jason is driving her stuff and also letting Mike her Miniature Schnauzer serve as co-pilot and ride with him! We decided that my dog Mikelet would travel with Tierney and me and not ride with Mike and Jason (he is small and could get lost somewhere in the moving van).

Now Tierney, Mikelet and I are headed to Seattle, WA for her first solo show opening (see post Solo Show Seattle Municipal Tower, Part II).

Currently we are hanging out at the airport on our way to Seattle and I discovered that the airport as a LIBRARY! It is called a…wait for it…FLYBRARY!

Is that not completely adorable (not as adorable as I am but still adorable!). Tierney’s beloved library, Deschutes Public Library, set up a couple stations in the airport for free book exchange. You can pick up a book for your flight or donate a book for someone else’s flight at the Flybrary!

Of course I had to browse some of the books and see if there was anything that Tierney and I needed for our flight.

We did not find anything for us to read so I’ve gone back to waiting in my seat for the plane ride to Seattle.

Still hoping Tierney will start blogging again, but for now I will have to fill in.

After the Seattle show, Tierney, Mikelet and I will fly to Denver to begin our new life and reunite with big Mike (well compared to my Mikelet, Mike is pretty big).

2018-06-23_11-47-12_575 — Photo from June 2018 of Mikelet and Mike riding in the car together

Postscript

Oh Tierney’s friend Jason sent photos this morning from the road trip with Mike in the moving van and he is having a good time so far napping or looking out the window.

Beastie Adventures, Guest Blogger

Beastie Blogging Intervention

April 13, 2019August 13, 2020 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Hello readers of tierneycreates! You’ve likely noticed Tierney of tierneycreates has fallen off the “blogging posting wagon”. She would claim this is due to being very busy working on her move to Colorado (see her series of posts Colorado Bound). So I am going to have to take over and get a post out there.

A Little About The Guest Blogger

If you are new to this blog, let me introduce myself: I am tierneycreates Beastie and I am a Monster, but the good kind of Monster.

You can read my story and see some of my adventures in the series of posts – Beastie Adventures. Here is the post that started that series on when I first arrived to Central Oregon to join Tierney – I’m a Monster.

I was born in Dublin, Ireland and moved (well was shipped) to Central Oregon to join Tierney of tierneycreates in June 2018. I am so glad my maker, Helen of Crawcrafts Beasties (crawcraftsbeasties.com), made me a laptop so I could help Tierney with blog posts!

Here I am using my makeshift desk:

Sometimes I have to look over my glasses to see the small text on my laptop, just like Tierney does:

2018-07-27_18-07-21_096 — Sometimes I have to look over my glasses while writing

In addition to a laptop for blogging, I also came with my dog Mikelet (a miniature Miniature Schnauzer) as well as my library card. So just like Tierney I could enjoy all that the public library has to offer.

What Has The Mysterious Tierney Been Up To?

Well Tierney has been working intensely to finish packing for her move to the greater Denver metropolitan area in the near future.

She did go from this (from the 03/31/19 post Never Stop to Think…Do I Have A Place for This?):

To this:

Some of her rooms are now actually empty:

Here’s a close up from me in the empty room but for some reason I am missing one of my shoes (did Tierney pack it?):

Tierney promises she will eventually find my other shoe!

Also Tierney has received a couple quilts back from long-arm quilting and she needs to get the bindings on:

Tango Stripe (see 10/14/18 post What is OFF the Design Wall: Tango Stripe is Done (yay!)) – on this one she put the binding on and is still working on sewing it down

Sampler Quilt – I cannot locate Tierney’s original post on this quilt but she was using it as a tablecloth and finally decided to have it professionally long-arm quilted to become a quilt. She is going to put on the binding after she moves to her new place. (Tierney promises that someday she will find the original post about this quilt and share a full photo of the quilted quilt with its binding on.)

In addition to packing and sewing down binding, Tierney has been traveling a lot and recently returned from a trip to Northern California to visit some of her quilting sisters. She took lots of photos at the quilt shops they visited and will share on a future post.

Well that’s all I have for now and I will try to work with Tierney to get her back on track with blogging (and catching up on the posts of the bloggers she follows).

I will leave you with a recent photo of Tierney and Mike (who my Mikelet was named after) and overall they are doing okay:

Colorado Bound, My Minimalism Journey

Never Stop to Think…Do I Have A Place for This?

March 31, 2019June 22, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

So I told myself I would not allow myself to post again until I caught up on all the blogs I follow. Alas, I have not made a dent in catching up on my blogging buddies’ posts, but what the heck, I am going to sneak in a quick post 🙂

This is a follow up to my post 03/17/19 post Library MEGA Stack!. One of the books in the stack was Mary Randolph Carter’s book Never Stop to Think…Do I Have A Place for This? I might have to buy this book someday as I so enjoyed it and it was the perfect book to give me peace right now.

61UXoWpPSEL._SX376_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg — Image credit: Amazon

Those of you following my blog for a while know that I’ve dabbled in Minimalism (see series of posts My Minimalism Journey). I’ve been successful in downsizing over the years and Marie Kondo’s (author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing) quote has gotten me through the letting go of my husband’s stuff after he passed in December 2018):

The space in which we live should be for the person we are becoming now, not for the person we were in the past. – Marie Kondo

I’ve been working on packing for my move to Colorado (see series of posts Colorado Bound) and I would not recommend packing as a hobby. Here is an example of the current nightmare:

I’ve been struggling with the amount of crafting supplies I am bringing with me to Colorado. However after reading Mary Randolph Carter’s book I am more peaceful and accepting of my stuff. She had a wonderful chapter on Guilt and discusses her own investigation and readings into minimalism in a very thoughtful way.

Even Marie Kondo states you should have in your life only those things that ‘spark joy’ and my craft supplies bring me a lot of joy (as does my ridiculous collection of crafting related books).

So I decided to “Never Stop to Think…Do I Have A Place for This?” when it comes to the craft supplies I love!

Mary Randolph Carter also has another wonderful book – A Perfectly Kept House is the Sign of a Misspent Life.

In my spousal loss grief support group, the facilitator emphasized that the person you were (your core will stay the same) before the loss of your spouse will likely change. Such a major life loss permanently changes you in some way. I definitely see myself lightening up on rules I’ve tried to live by in the past.

I doubt I will become someone featured in the television show “Hoarders” in the future but I am not going to hesitate (as long there is no harm to others) to do what makes me happy and not really care what others think!

Postscript

As I mentioned in a previous post, I did decided to rent a 2 bedroom apartment in Colorado, instead of the 1 bedroom I had originally planned. I am very excited about my nearly 1200 square feet (111.5 square meters) apartment and I’ve already begun decorating it in my mind!

In a future post I will share my new plan for fabric scraps organization at my new place. And of course I have a zillion other things to blog about 🙂

Okay now back to trying to catch up on my blogging buddies posts!

Colorado Bound, Life in B&W

Colorado Bound (Part III) – Colorado in B&W

March 27, 2019November 15, 2023 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Here is my next installment in my new series of posts “Colorado Bound” which began with this post: Colorado Bound (Part I). It is also a continuation of my series Life in B&W in which I pretend that I am a real photographer expanding my portfolio of Black & White Photos taken with my iPhone camera (isn’t that what real photographers use?!?!?).

I recently returned from a 5 day trip to the Denver Colorado area to visit friends and to tour apartments to live in. We toured 10 apartment complexes between Boulder and Denver and I settled on a place in a suburb of Denver, in the Denver Greater Metropolitan area (this is the web and you never know who is reading so that is as many details as I will provide in this public forum).

I did end up getting a 2 bedroom apartment which even has a separate nook with a built in desk for telecommuting! I was originally going to be very minimalist and thrifty but decided that if I am going to work from home I need space. Additionally it will be nice for visitors and to have a decent space for crafting.

I decided to rent in a “boutique apartment complex” type of place for a year which has included a fitness center, a pool, community activities, and other wonderful amenities. It will be sort of like living in a hotel for a year!

In addition to touring apartments (my friend was incredible driving me around on the first day to tour 5 apartments and loaning me her car the next day when she had to work to let me tour on my own), we went on a wonderful tour of Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey Distillery as well as attended an incredible concert by the Boulder, CO based acapella group Face Vocal Band.

I will feature some photos from Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey Distillery tour in another post.

Oh and if you enjoyed the video by Face Vocal Band above performing a traditional song, here they are again performing a contemporary popular music hit. Note all the percussion sounds are done by voices of the performers, no instruments!

I so appreciate my friends introducing me to this fun band!

Okay so let’s get to the Black & White photos I threatened to share in the title of this post (smile).

Colorado in Black & White

Friends and I went for a lovely hike on the Sunday before I returned home. Here are some photos from that walk:

Postscript

I thought I would start with my recent trip to Colorado as it is fresh on my mind, but I have a backlog of other stories and posts to come 🙂

Life in B&W, Shows and Exhibits, tierneytravels

Solo Show Seattle Municipal Tower, Part II

March 18, 2019September 27, 2021 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Here is a follow up to my 03/01/19 post Solo Show Seattle Municipal Tower, Part I.

Last week I was in Seattle, Washington for a work meeting and while I was in Seattle I dropped of my 12 art quilts that will be in my solo show at the Seattle Municipal Tower in Downtown Seattle opening 04/18/19 and running through 07/16/19.

I had the pleasure of meeting with Patricia S. the Coordinator for the City of Seattle’s Ethnic Heritage Gallery and Blake H. the Curator and Collections Manager for the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture. They seemed pleased with the art quilts I had selected for the show.

I got to tour the gallery space in the Seattle Municipal Tower in downtown Seattle.

Here is some of the gallery space (I took photos quickly as I had to get to a work meeting in another section of downtown Seattle):

Here is the reception area where the opening reception will be held:

And here is the draft flyer for the show which is titled “The Wardrobe Meets the Wall: Art Quilts Created from Recycled Clothing & Garment Manufacturing Samples”.

The show’s curator said he loved the title, the concept and thought the art quilts were beautiful (I had a “trunk show” in the lower lobby/gallery area for the Coordinator and Curator).

The show opens at 12 noon on 04/18/19 at 700 5th Avenue, Seattle Washington. See you there if you are in the area! (My head is still reeling that the City of Seattle invited me to have a solo show…)

Postscript

Downtown Seattle in B&W

I could not refuse the opportunity to take photos of downtown Seattle Washington in black & white while I walked from my meeting with the City of Seattle on the show, to my employer’s office.

I guess you could consider this postscript a continuation of my series of posts – Life in B&W.

And then there was the magnificent Downtown Seattle Public Library which I used to browse when I lived in Seattle 15 years ago:

Books, Music, Podcasts, Library Adventures, Quality of Life

Library MEGA Stack!

March 17, 2019May 1, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Before I begin this post, I just want to reach out to my NZ blogging friends and let you know I am thinking of you. I am so sorry to hear of the recent terrible tragedy in your beautiful country.

The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind and I have lots to blog about in the next several posts:

I’ve visited friends in Gig Harbor, Washington and attended the Sew & Stitchery Expo;
Returned to Seattle again for a brief business trip, met with the City of Seattle, toured the and got to tour the gallery space for my first solo show in April;
Continue to prep for my big move to Colorado at the end of April (see series of posts Colorado Bound); and
In the near future I travel to Denver to visit a friend and tour 10 (yes 10) rentals I’ve researched for my future home (looking between Boulder and Denver, CO and in a future post in my Colorado Bound series I will share more about how I got to 10).

Should I also mention need to create a piece for an invitational only juried show that I really want to get into? I was invited in the Fall of 2018, before my husband passed away in December 2018. I will see after my visit to the Denver area to find my housing if I think I can whip out an art quilt before the closing of the show entry date on June 15.

In between all this mixture of fun and crazy schedule, I am still grieving the loss of my partner of more than 1/2 my life, Terry the Quilting Husband.

I was having a rough patch of grief earlier this week and I had a wonderful conversation with one of the physicians I work with, Liz, who is also a friend. She strongly suggested that I take some “self-care” time and slow my life down a bit.

I decided to take her advice and had a “Self-Care Saturday” yesterday which involved a visit to my local library to get a MEGA library stack!

So let’s continue my ongoing (and long-time neglected) series – The Library Stack – in which I share my stack of borrowed books from my beloved local public library (and in the next couple of months will have to change to the Denver or Boulder area public library system).

Leisurely Lounging, Library & Lunch

By Thursday of last week I decided that Saturday was only going to be for me. I was going to relax and have fun. A dear friend invited me to have breakfast with her on Saturday and I declined telling her I was “busy”. As much as I would have enjoyed her company, I wanted to keep my commitment to myself (I was “busy” – I was busy taking care of myself).

Saturday morning, Mike the miniature schnauzer and I spent hours leisurely lounging in bed (including breakfast in bed for me) and binge watching documentaries on space and astrophysics – two of my favorite documentary topics.

Here we are binge watching, but I think Mike is just napping – ha!

Of course maybe Mike’s giant schnauzer cushion is blocking his view of the television…

After a couple documentaries, Mike and I headed out for a long walk around the neighborhood.

Then I headed out for a special treat – to return to my local downtown library and spend an hour browsing in my favorite sections – crafting and home decorating.

Here is the crazy MEGA library stack of borrowed books that resulted from my leisurely browsing:

A couple of the books are repeat loans but most of them are new to me. It appears the library acquired more yummy crafting and home decor books while I was away for a couple months!

After my library browsing, I took myself to lunch (yummy tapas) and brought one of my library books along to start reading while I ate my delicious patatas bravas and rockfish taco:

A solitary lunch with a good book can be quite exquisite.

The New Bohemians Handbook

I’ve borrowed Justina Blackeney’s book The New Bohemians: Cool and Collected Homes, several times in the past from my library.

61MljfrjRRL._SX403_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg — image credit: amazon.com

How delightful it was to discover during my library browsing that she has a new book: The New Bohemians Handbook: Come Home to Good Vibes:

61a9esMUzaL._SX399_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg — image credit: amazon.com

I loved her previous book and this new book is excellent timing for me to discover as soon I will be working on decorating my new apartment (which will be much smaller than my current home).

The “Bohemian” style really appeals to me. I’ve always referred to my style of interior decorating as “cozy and random”. I think “Bohemian” sounds even better!

In this book the author proposes that there is a “deep connection between home decor and well-being”. She recommends five (5) processes to achieve that sense of well-being with your home decor:

Clarity
Flow
Spirit
Growth
Harmony

It was a wonderful book to read and browse through during my delicious lunch at a local Tapas Eatery.

I look forward to finishing the book and working my way through the rest of the MEGA Library Stack!

I believe creativity and good vibes can save the world.

– Justina Blakeney, The New Bohemians Handbook

Quality of Life

A Quilt for the Road…

March 9, 2019June 22, 2022 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

This post is sort of a follow up to my previous post Love Wears it Out (Repost). I ordered someone to WEAR OUT a quilt!

Very Special Occasion Required

My original “Quilting Sister” (the woman who got me quilting) Judy always stated in response to people who would say to her “oh I wish you would make me a quilt“, is that you need to have a very special occasion to get a quilt: you have a baby, you get married, or you have some other very special occasion.

As quilts are a lot of work/time to make, not to mention a lot of money to make (more than non-quilters realize – see the TheQuiltShow’s July 2018 post – How Much Does It Cost to Make a Quilt? ), I’ve generally stuck to this rule.

Now, of course I’ve made quilts for special people in my life just because they are special. And as I’ve learned over the years, not everyone appreciates handmade items or appreciates the time and effort that went into it (I always remember the awful story a friend shared of discovering that a beautiful quilt she made for someone was being used to clean up an oil spill in recipient’s garage!).

But for the most part it is pretty darn exciting to give someone a quilt for a special occasion or because they are a special person.

Ordered to “Wear Out” a Quilt

Well my friends Cody and Cici are getting married this summer (a qualifying reason to get a quilt!), and although I have not known them a long time, I consider them special people and they really appreciate handmade items, so I sent them an early wedding gift – a quilt that I made with my late husband (who passed in December 2018), Terry the Quilting Husband.

I sent it to them with one very important stipulation: THEY MUST USE IT AND WEAR IT OUT.

Cody is an avid fly fisherman and so was my husband Terry. A couple years ago Terry selected a collection of fishing themed flannels and designed this quilt which I helped him assemble. Here are photos of the front of the quilt (which was so busy with fishing prints I sort of cringed when he designed it – ha!) and the back of the quilt (which was my idea to calm down the front!):

One for the Road

So I knew Cody would love the quilt but I was a little worried his Cici might cringe. But I thought I would take a chance and send it to them as a their wedding gift.

They are super active outdoors people and have a cool Sprinter van that they use for long distance camping adventures, so I suggested that this very warm heavy flannel quilt be used for those adventures.

Well they both love the quilt and they complied! The quilt has already gone on its first van adventure:

2019-03-05_16-28-44_834 — Photo courtesy of Cody G.

Cody and Cici sent me photos of them wrapped in their favorite sides of the quilt!

I am working on a move to Colorado (see my series of posts Colorado Bound) and I need to lighten my load and this was a great way to do it. I know Terry would approve the quilt going to people who will love it and use it well!

I hope this quilt gets completely worn out to the point of being threadbare from a lifetime of adventures and road trips!

It is “one for the road”.

Postscript

I’m so honored my friend, author Marie Bostwick, reposted one of my blog posts (Valentines) on her blog Fierce Beyond 50, (which has a MUCH larger readership than my blog):

Coping with Grief by Helping Others

Screen Shot 2019-03-09 at 6.09.03 PM.png — fiercebeyond50.com

I really appreciate the opportunity to share my musings with a larger audience.

A Crafter's Life

Love Wears it Out (Repost)

March 6, 2019March 6, 2019 tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Yesterday, during the weekly Spousal Loss Grief Support Group I attend, the book The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams was mentioned.

This made me think of a post I wrote in 2013 answering the question: “How do you know a quilt has been loved?” in which I quote this beautiful book.

Thought I would repost this post today.

How do you know a quilt has been loved?

It is worn, frayed, maybe even threadbare.

In my early days of quilting this would make me cringe. I put all that work into a quilt and now it is all worn out?

Now the thought of one my quilts being so loved (just think of that glorious book The Velveteen Rabbit) brings a huge smile to my face.

While talking to my sister (she has many quilts from me) she mentioned that most of the quilts I have made her are very worn out, some are just “hanging on by thread” about to fall apart.

I take quilt construction seriously and for a second I thought “wow shoddy workmanship on my part” and “why did they not take better care of the quilts”? I came to my senses several seconds later and realized: Wow! Those quilts have been truly loved – I am so lucky and so honored!

I think of what my first quilting mentor and dear friend, Judy D, once told me:

“If a quilt is falling apart, all worn out, then it has been truly loved…I never mind repairing a quilt that has been loved”.

**Excerpt from The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams**

511dhZFTuZL._SX328_BO1,204,203,200_ — image credit: amazon.com

“Real isn’t how you are made, it’s a thing that happens to you… When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”

“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.

“Sometimes…When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”

“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up..or bit by bit?”

“It doesn’t happen all at once..You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”

Thank you to all the people I have made quilts for over the years, who have truly loved them, and made them REAL.

Postscript

Re-posting this post also made me think of an art quilt I finished in April 2018 titled Recycled Denim Story V: Recycled Love (2018). This piece is part of my Recycled Denim Story Series of art quilts (see my page Art Quilt Stories for more of the series).

Recycled Love (see post The Recycled Love) honors all the love that goes into making and giving a quilt to someone.

Here is the Artist Statement that explains the story behind this quilt made from all recycled materials:

The first law of thermodynamics states that the total amount of energy in a system cannot be created nor destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another. A quilt is made from changing the existing “love energy” from the quilt maker’s heart into a pieced textile; ultimately recycling that love energy into the quilt’s recipient heart.

Quilt are Love!

Feature Photo by Alex Block on Unsplash

Dana’s Quilt: Tula All Stars

Postscript

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I’ve Moved – from Urban to Suburban

Morning Walk in Black & White

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Knitting, Spinning, Crocheting, Felting, Wool Craft

Dressmaking & Garment Sewing

Quilting

Other Fun Stuff in the Shop

Photos of Friends Shopping

A Return Visit

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Schnauzerfest!

A Proper Grooming

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First Visitors

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Organizing Scraps

Yardage Fabrics and Coordinating Smaller Pieces

Project in Queue

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NEW Library Stack

Option B

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MY ENTRYWAY/HALLWAY

HALLWAY TO THE KITCHEN AND HOME OFFICE AREA

THE KITCHEN

THE LIVING ROOM

THE MASTER BEDROOM

GUEST ROOM/STUDIO

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Oh Scrap, Part II

New “Studio” Tour

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Library Exterior

The Directory

Riding the Escalators!

Searching for the Crafting Section

Browsing the Crafting Section

Cafe and Gift Shop

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Before the Show

Show Opening: The Wardrobe Meets the Wall

After the Show

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A Little About The Guest Blogger

What Has The Mysterious Tierney Been Up To?

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Colorado in Black & White

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Downtown Seattle in B&W

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Leisurely Lounging, Library & Lunch

The New Bohemians Handbook

I believe creativity and good vibes can save the world.

**Excerpt from The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams**