Rewards for hard work

We got out and got the backyard cleaned up

In the yard of our next door neighbor there is a large cottonwood tree, and because of the direction of the prevailing winds, most of the leaves seem to end up in our yard

So as I'm raking them up along the fence, I start to notice the really interesting patterns of color change on some of them -- and that some of them have interesting holes in them --

and it occurred to me that I could use them for an art project -- or two -- or more!

So I collected a bunch of them and brought them in the house and put them in the scanner -- I'm thinking these have potential for a quilt and some graphic arts and maybe even some beading

my reward for the hard work (yes, this morning my arms and my back are telling me about the work part!)

Yesterday, being Monday, I did the usual loads of laundry.

When I washed this shirt (one of my favorites for slipping over a t-shirt in the house), I noticed that there were some little holes in it

Now I could have used a small matching color repair on the inside of the shirt, but what fun would that be?

So, we have the leaf shape on one side (and what you can't see in the picture is the quilted veining on that leaf)

and a sun rising out of the pocket on the other (the quilting around the edges of the sun are all done in gold metallic thread)

Sure beats just "mending"! I say, look at those small jobs as a design opportunity!

and another finished project!

this is the first of the sunflower hotpads

the center is knit with two strands of worsted weight acrylic yarns from the "stash", the petals are a single strand of a similar yarn which I picked up the other day in the "goodie basket" at the local craft store (I needed something yellow!)

My plan is to make up two more of these to go along with those two dish rags I've already finished and use the whole "package" for a friend at Christmas.

I also worked on both quilts that I'm quilting -- and finally figured out how to return the "blocks quilted" count to the side bar of this blog so I can chart the progress on the log cabin one. I haven't yet figured out a way to actually log the quilting that's going on the bird quilt, let's just say I'm working on it.

Other knitting and beading projects are also moving right along -- even with the time out for yard work and laundry.

Today we'll be doing some shopping (our once a month trip to WalMart for those over the counter medications that I can't get any cheaper elsewhere) before settling in to work on projects and watch MSNBC's election coverage.

We did early voting back on October 20th, so I've been just waiting since then for everyone else to decide.

This is an important election. Vote like your health and your life depends on it -- it does.

Now GO VOTE!!