smart shopping and project progress

yesterday I decided that since I needed to return one library book and pick up another one I would make a stop in the little scrap booking store that is right there next door to the library

I figured it was worth the savings in gas to just pick up the needed Copic marker there instead of going a couple of miles the other direction

turned out to be an even better deal than that -- they had a deal going on -- buy 3 markers, get one free -- which makes the price of each of these just $5.25 instead of $6.49

so I got the needed black one and 3 different shades of green that I can use both on the Africa series and on the trees piece

as the DH pointed out, I am going to be doing more with these markers as time goes on, so it makes sense to pick up the colors that I'll be using when I can get a good deal on them
the result of having the right tool for the job was that I came home and finished the marker work on the zebras

so now all 4 of the animal panels for this piece are ready for me to do the next step -- the backgrounds -- which will be paint and markers and stitching and beading

and I'm thinking about the sky on these and if I should consider the water color pencils to create a sunset like coloring in the background too

we'll see
the quilting on the cone flowers is coming along

I decided to try to create the texture look of the flower petals by doing wavy rows of quilting from the center to the tip of the petal and there are actually two different colors of quilting threads in that patterning as well

(in this picture the color isn't intense enough, but the stitching texture does show up well)

this petal is the biggest bright yellow one and the two rusty colored petals on either side of it are also stitched

I'm real pleased with how this is going, both how it looks and the time line to having it done

leaf applique continues -- I added 9 more yesterday, for a total of 47

this morning we've already completed weeding the garden and mowing the back yard, so as soon as I finish posting this and eating my breakfast I'm heading to the studio to get more work done!