VIEWS FROM HERITAGE PLACER VINEYARDS

Yes, I'm still sewing but unable to post about the current commission I'm working on. It's a birthday present for someone and the customer wants it private for now.

So instead I'll sharing some views from of this new part of the country we find ourselves living in.

Sunsets in particular are so different from anywhere I've ever lived.  This one was spectacular - almost eerie....like a view of Mars or molten lava.

And back down to earth.....before the sun was even up, yet again on our morning forced march, we passed cranes depositing cement for foundations in this super fast growing community.  Houses pop up almost overnight...not an exaggeration!  No wonder I'm so uncomfortable here after living most of my life in rural settings.

THE PACK WON!!!!

 Our hero - Brandon McManus won the game for the Packers on Sunday with 3 seconds left in the game.....Packers 24 - Houston Texans 22. He joined the team on Wednesday after the Packers let go their current pitiful kicker who missed 5 field goals in 6 games. About time we say!!

Here's his first Lambeau Leap (first done by LeRoy Butler Dec. 26, 1993). GO PACK GO!!!!

ARTISAN FAIRE REPORT

 It was a positive experience selling in person to the public, rather than having permanent space to exhibit my work in galleries as I did in Asheville, NC area.

At our community's Artisan Faire this past Saturday, I was fortunate to have inside space since I needed a wall to display.  My space was ample, with enough room for viewers to get up close to the work.  

It was also a marvelous way for me to meet so many of the residents. Given the 100 degrees heat for the last 4 1/2 months, we really haven't had many opportunities to meet our new neighbors outdoors.

AWESOME HALLOWEEN COSTUME

 My good pal Lynn's father was the Fire Chief in the hometown we both were raised in.  Lynn now has a grandson.....and guess what she made for him to wear for Halloween?  Talk about a wonderful tribute to her father and a fabulous legacy gift for her cutie pie grandson.  

She has allowed me to share the pictures with you.....  It's heartwarming to see such thought that has gone into creating this unique personalized costume.

VIEWS FROM MY MORNING FORCED MARCH

 Moving to the West coast has not stopped my daily 'forced march'.  The last two mornings interesting skies caught my attention.....   A huge rainbow, so big I couldn't get all of it in the photo frame.  And this morning a beautiful early sun rise.....plus the reason I only slept 1 1/2 hrs. last night. (The picture is fuzzy but I can attest it was almost as bright as daylight.)  That's NOT an exaggeration, insomnia has haunted me all my life and is only getting worse.  This morning I'm so tired my eye balls hurt.....

JUST FRAMED!!

 Final piece completed before Artisan Faire in 3 days......

SUMMER COTTAGES - 13" X 13"

Now available

Artist mono printed, ice dyed, & hand dyed cottons.

Hand embroidered, machine appliqued & quilted.  Wrapped onto a canvas frame and secured in wood frame without glass.

A NEW HOME

 It's always such a thrill to see one of my pieces hanging in its new home.  This commission piece went back to NC and thankfully was unaffected by the recent hurricane.  The piece was a challenge in regard to scale.  Lot's of thought went into it every step of the way to consider it would be viewed from its high hanging location.

Many of you already know my back story......I began quilting in the mid 80's during recovery from several back surgeries.  Like most it started with traditional quilts.....blue and white, red and white and then onto to scrap quilts.  Though I shouldn't really call them 'scrap' because being a new quilter I was just beginning my fabric collection.  I've loved the process every step of my journey from traditional to embellished whimsy and now to botanical/landscape themes, often framed.  From beginner to professional, now retired from travel teaching and morphed into creating work to be sold.

Thanks for sticking with me all these years......

UPPER CRABTREE - TRIPLE CREEK MEADOWS, NC. 

52.5" x 60"  

CELEBRATE!!!

 Gosh....it's been awhile since I posted.....been super busy with preparations for 3 family members birthdays this month.  Grand kiddo, brother (came all the way from OR), & 'the husband'.

One highlight is getting to watch the Packer game with other avid fans on Sunday.  Some memorable photos.....for me they are!!

SIL as we prepare for the 10:00 AM game.

This is the first day since move in way back in March that it was cool enough to enable us to sit outside. Grandson asked for my cinnamon twists instead of a cake.....which I tried to shape into the number 9.  The day was a good reminder of why we moved to CA!!

 Youngest grandson...is now the proud owner of 1 share of the Green Bay Packers.....a true legacy gift.

STUNNING OVERVIEW OF DAMAGE

 There are hundreds of videos online showing the devastation from the hurricane....the word devastation really can not even describe the aftermath of this storm. This is one of the most comprehensive looks that I've seen....made by a fellow who walked the closed road to Chimney Rock......you literally can't believe what you are seeing. But most of all you see the strength of Mother Nature and the strength of ordinary folks who live here. (Ads are easily skipped....it's a fairly long video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYdC-6nShdc

SIGH......

Here's another eye-popping look at the devastation in Asheville area. Our friend Jim provided this photo....he's standing in the middle of a pile of downed trees blocking his roads.

So many of my pals still don't have power, water, internet, cell service.....it's coming back but as you can imagine after 9 days and counting it's a stressful time.

Heartbreaking...... 

STUDIO SPACE NOW ALL SET UP

Folks in our community are sharing photos on our group's Facebook page, showing creative uses for their home's spaces. Most of us have downsized and perhaps trying to squeeze in everything that our previous home allowed.

My sewing studio is our 3rd bedroom.....probably 11'x12'....my previous space as a huge loft area 15'x 23'.....plus two LARGE closets for fabric etc storage.

Surprise for me.....I'm actually making this smaller space work just fine. Though I do have a large walk in closet that also holds fabric and more 'stuff' like framing equipment, paints, dyes etc.

It may be a surprise to see so little art on my walls.....I may keep it that way....some do well with lots and lots of inspirations around them. I am easily distracted so perhaps blank walls are sufficient.

So you can see what I'm selling my older big quilts.....I especially want to find homes for my published embellished whimsy quilts that really helped launch and continue my career. I simply have no place to keep them. Check them out by scrolling down the list of available pieces. https://marystorishop.blogspot.com

No good way to get a complete one photo overview....so here are two.... 

LITTLE RED SCHOOLHOUSE QUILT FOR SALE

 In preparation for the upcoming Artisan Faire that I'm participating in, clearly there are more quilts in my inventory than I will be able to display.  

The move across the country made me realize some of my quilts featured in various books, including my own need new homes.  

This piece is pristine and was featured in The Classic American Quilt Collection - SCHOOLHOUSE, by Rodale Quit Books.

It's 56.5"X 71.25"......use as a lap quilt or for display.  Machine quilted and hand quilted math problems on the outer border.  Plaid double fold binding.  Price $400, shipping via USPS flat rate included, US only.  Payment via Venmo, or your check.  Connect with me to make arrangements.

Not the best photo below but provided as another look at the piece.

AROUND AND AROUND

 Our community is hosting an Artisan Faire Oct. 19th, 40 artist's work will be on display.  There will be some from our community, Heritage Placer Vineyards, plus numerous outside artists.  I have no idea what to expect since this is a new avenue for me.  I'm more familiar with online shoppers, exhibits and working with galleries to sell my work.  Will there be 5 or 500 visitors?

To provide some lower cost items, rather than all art quilts, I've been adding to my inventory of fabric bowls.  Tedious stitching round and around the shape, but the results are so appealing.

Here's a few I recently made, plus a look at one special red/black fabric for an upcoming custom order.  They measure about 12" in diameter.

CAN'T BELIEVE THIS......

Talk about ridiculous......despite selling a ton of stuff before we moved, we truly didn't have time to go through everything complete enough.......soooooo we are actually participating in our community garage sale. I've never seen so many electronic cords, wires etc. in my life - 50 years of accumulation I expect. What doesn't sell will go directly to Goodwill. Sigh...... 

FABRIC BOWLS

Spending time making fabric bowls for our upcoming 55+ community Artisan Faire.....I enjoy making them but they are sure time consuming. The round and around stitching is kinda mindless....good to let one's mind drift from time to time.

AUTUMN HAS ARRIVED

 New piece now available.  Contact me if interested.

AUTUMN GINKGO LEAVES- 13” X 13”

Woodgrain cotton fabric designed by Mary Stori for Kona Bay Fabrics. Authentic Japanese cotton motifs, machine pieced, appliquéd, densely embroidered.  Gallery wrapped canvas & secured in a black wood frame without glass.

**Pebbles are a backdrop only, not fabric.

KOI POND

JUST COMPLETED........ 

KOI POND -  24” x 16”

SOLD 

Authentic Japanese cottons, machine appliquéd & machine quilted with metallic thread. Bound edges & hanging sleeve.

** Clarification....the small pebbles are not fabric, rather they are the backdrop for the photo.

AND I MUST ADD.......GO PACK GO!!!  PACK 16 - COLTS 10.  HURRAH FOR WILLIS!!!!

COMING SOON...NEW WALL ART PIECE

 Busy week has kept me from much sewing but I am slowly plugging away.....no cranes in this one....instead the subject is a Koi Pond. Coming soon....here's a preview.

JAPANESE STYLE QUILTS FOR SALE

As many of you already know, I was represented by a gallery in Asheville, NC before moving to CA. It only displayed local artists. therefore I have quite an inventory and no room to store them.

These pieces would love forever homes. The style is very popular so they tend to sell quickly. Shipped via USPS flat rate, US only. Shipping included. Contact me if interested

CROSSROADS TO JAPAN - 45” x 36” - $500

Authentic Japanese cotton prints, diagonal green grid is my hand-dyed fabric, machine pieced and quilted. Double fold binding & hanging sleeve attached. The size was purposeful.....it's just right to hang over a sofa, above a dining room buffet, an entrance or stairwell wall.

JAPANESE CIRCLES - 42" X 43". - $500

Japanese cottons, pieced, appliquéd, and densely machine quilting.  Outside edges feature double fold binding with colorful flat flange.  Fabric hanging sleeve attached.

PICTURES HUNG

 Why on earth did it take us 5 months before we hung pictures?? Of course quilts displays went up nearly immediately after moving in!!  In part, moving from a 3 story house to a single story changes the amount of wall space one has.

The Man Cave was the last room we tackled.  After unwrapping all the car related photos (most of which 'the husband' photographed, sized & printed, then framed.)  The layout was planned followed by two full days squeezing behind furniture too heavy for us to move to be able to reach the walls.

Measuring, drilling, leveling, and sometimes re-drilling was required.  And here's the reveal.........

LONG AND NOT QUILT RELATED.....CA FIRES

I've grumbled about our difficulty getting acclimated to our move from NC to CA. The negatives are extensive, but I will remind myself why we are here......being closer to our only child (son/family) and admittedly much better health care.   

For multiple reasons, very little sewing has been undertaken this past week, but yesterday the reason was a whopping one and one that was on the top of my 'worry' list about living in CA.

Yup, we were ordered to evacuate due to a brush fire that rapidly spread. It got into the edges of our community, directly behind our clubhouse complex.  This is 5 blocks from us!  We'd heard lots of sirens and smelled smoke while we were picture hanging and chatting with SIL via speaker phone.  So when the text came to evacuate, we never saw it......by the time I did....thankfully it was cancelled within 30 mins. due to the excellent fire fighters we have here.

Some folks lost their fences but as far as I know besides being super frightened when Sheriffs went door to door telling residents they had to leave there were no injuries.  By the time they would have gotten to us, it was under control......appx. 7 1/2 acres burned.  It hasn't been reported yet how it started.  Oh boy, to lose our home, would have been the topper drama of our journey relocating here!

Our area is not really known for destructive wild fires so I hadn't really felt threatened, till now.  And yes, we are now going to make a plan to follow if evacuation is ever ordered again!  

Here are some photos.....the overhead one shows just a section of our big development and how close houses are to each other.  There's lots of empty fields around us and nearly all are already slated for either business or housing.  I commend the owners of the lands as most mow to keep the very, very dry grasses low.

PS.....super sad Packer fan here after their loss Friday night and the injury to our QB.......yikes....but no matter. GO PACK GO!!!!

The big building you see is our clubhouse.

 

HOW CAN BEING RETIRED FIND ME SO BUSY??

I have an inspiration fabric to share today.......the design hit me the minute I uncovered this piece in my stash.......stay tuned....sewing has already begun. 

The scenery here is still so unfamiliar to me........cloudless blue skies daily which brings the negative result of constant heat.....it's been 100 degree days for several months now, today's prediction - 107.  What on earth am I doing living in such an unfriendly environment??  This is 6:45 AM Sept. 6th.....we do our forced march just before the sun comes up, never to leave home till it goes down.  (kidding, sort of)

After major nagging on my part, 'the husband' finally selected car related photos to be hung in the man cave.  It's probably less than half the number that remains.  Selection made (check), layout tested (check), the hanging part begins........

MAJESTIC CRANES

 The ring door bell's fisheye image still captivates me.  Another image I've noticed everywhere in our community is the 3 vertical parallel lines created by a young tree with a tall support stake on either side.  It's kinda crazy how once noticed, they don't go unnoticed and yes, then inspire.  So, these two new influences were the inspiration for this new piece.

MAJESTIC CRANES

18” x 22”

SOLD

Authentic Japanese cottons, machine appliquéd & machine quilted 

 with metallic thread. Bound edges & hanging sleeve attached.