old, new and back again

this has been one of those weeks that I felt like I was working hard, but for the most part there just wasn't anything to show for it -- partly because I spent several hours taking photos for a new sales venture for some of our more expensive jewelry and several more hours sorting, washing and ironing fabric in an attempt to organize the "stash" into a more usable form

toss in the monthly shopping trips and a visit to the dentist and you've got a recipe for a week that vanish with out a visible trace

yesterday was better

I got back to the bead work on this project and by the end of the session I have this now almost 2/3 of the way finished with the beading

and it looks really good


I've been fiddling with ideas for over a week trying to come up with an idea to put footprints on that yellow brick road

yesterday I cut two rubber stamps that I will experiment with on some other surfaces first to be sure I don't totally mess up what is already finished

I'm hoping to get to the next step later today to test this out


yesterday was day two of the two day machine quilting class -- and of the two was the more difficult

last week we were doing very simple shapes using the walking foot on the machine, and for the most part it was something that I got the hang of pretty quickly

yesterday's exercises were in free motion quilting -- and the best comparison I can give is the "pat your head and rub your tummy" thing --

when doing free motion the key seems to be "fast foot, slow hands", which for someone that has had the experience of breaking off a sewing machine needle in an index finger is a little intimidating

I think my best work was the little running horsie

and I'll be spending some time fiddling with this whole idea some more in the near future

in the mean time, while I don't feel confident to just jump into a whole quilt with free motion quilting, I do feel that I could do a small lap quilt with my walking foot without any problem, so I'll probably try that in the next couple of months

this photo is multi-purposed

first, I am absolutely amazed at the clarity and detail that I get with my new printer's scanning abilities -- wow, and wow again -- I'm just beginning to understand how great an addition to my art process it will be

second, this is a scan of an actual leaf that I picked up off the front lawn this morning -- a little reminder that although its still HOT here, fall really isn't far away (and the holiday season after that -- YIKES!)

and third, it's clear that I'm not done yet with this theme as inspiration for art work as I just can't seem to walk away from a leaf like this, but must bring it in the house, dry the surface and stick it in the scanner!

and clearly this might be a good them to pursue with the free motion quilting techniques

an ongoing source of inspiration for art work is a good thing