it's a rock

or actually, a whole lot of rocks!

this is a piece of unbleached muslin that I used sea sponges to paint "rocks" on

a variety of color combinations and sizes

these are for the Trees project

today this will get ironed to "set" the color then I can start figuring out the cutting and placement

and there will be similarly painted "bushes"

seeing the trees in the forest

the stitching has begun

we realize there is no such forest anywhere --- redwood trees and aspens just don't grow together in the same climate

we're making it happen in fabric

yesterday, after the washing of all the fabrics there was a marathon ironing session -- it took me back to my childhood, ironing my grandfather's shirts -- except there was no starch involved yesterday, just the smell of freshly washed, warm cotton

the fabrics I had dyed the day before were specifically for the sky and the dirt, and after the ironing and cutting, those first two pieces have been stitched together

today I hope to do some marking of where the trees will go on that, and perhaps begin the painting of the rocks on the dirt

we also did this yesterday

this is the foam for the seat of the chair we are recovering

the DH did the measuring, pattern cutting and marking -- I got to use the knife and cut it to shape -- reminded me of the hours with the drywall saw when we remodeled a house --- {shudder}

there was enough of the foam left over to make the pad for a small ottoman, so the DH has begun working on the framework for that (we actually had wood furniture legs from some previous low slung piece of furniture on hand that will go pretty well with the chair)

this morning we're making a grocery store run so we don't have to go out again for a few days -- we have a big storm forecast for the weekend

Projects to dye for

this is the dye pot -- located at long last

we have spent several hours looking for this item -- and where was it? right there in plain site!!

the last time I used this was before we left California

and we had two pots that looked just alike --- one to can in and one to dye in (yes, I'm sure this is the dye pot -- I had packed it with a quarter of a paper barrel bag of black walnut hulls inside for a future dye project!)

now the question is -- what happened to the canning kettle? the jar rack is here, but the kettle is not, and I know I was here when we moved --- it's a puzzlement!




so these were the fabrics that needed to be dyed

I had not previously used this particular kind of dye

for one thing the fiber reactive sort of dye is relatively new in the local fabric store -- you used to have to order it from someplace like Dharma Trading

the coolest thing about these dyes is that the fabrics actually came out the colors they were supposed to! (having worked with Rit dyes quite a bit, I was prepared to be disappointed with these) I used the China Blue on a 2 yard chunk of bleached muslin, and the Terracotta on a 3 yard chunk of unbleached muslin

because I will be using the blue for the sky of the next piece, I wanted it to be an even color, so I paid a lot of attention to proper stirring technique

the terracotta will be part of the "dirt" and part of the tree bark, so even color was a lot less desirable, so the fabric was just sort of "bunched" and stirred around without trying to get something homogeneous

so the dying got done yesterday then each color was put in a plastic bag and allowed to sit overnight to develop

this morning I washed this batch of fabrics (which are also for the Trees project

then I rinsed out both of the dye batches (one at a time of course to avoid cross contamination)

there will be a major ironing project to be worked on after breakfast

this aluminum foil pan is all marked up for the cutting

it is going to become the big metal panels at the top of this building -- now I just have to go through the box of gray beads and find the right ones to build all those bezels that will surround each piece






I had been experimenting with different things to be the scarves around the necks of the penguins on my Christmas cards, but so far everything was too bulky

I found these wired garlands in the drugstore

I think they will work really well -- they're fluffy and sparkly and will stay where I want them and because they are basically wired mylar they aren't too bulky around the back of the penguin's neck where I need it to lay flat

since I have almost finished the book that goes with the mystery Christmas quilt, I'll be working on the cards a lot more now

like this?

I do

the DH is working on a design to be used to make new needlepoint seat covers for our dining room chairs

this is the original line drawing

I've done him a couple of copies so he can play with the color

after he gets that to what he wants I'll scan the colored image and create a graph with my beading software (got to love all the many things you can do with something laid out on a square graph!)

yup, we've got projects aplenty!!

more Christmas projects complete, new art begun

and here it is -- a garden hat!

hoping to help protect my son-in-law's head from the sun and the heat while he grows some more of those hot chili peppers next summer

oh yes, and note the colorful top stitching in the brim that matches the embroidery on the front of the hat too



and you may be wondering what that paper is that is under the hat that looks like a blue print

it is the full size pattern for the next project

and these are part of the next project too

now that I have all of the pattern put together I'll be working on dying some fabrics for the background of this piece -- one light blue dye pot, one terra cotta dye pot

and these threads are for the redwood trees

the idea is to digitize the redwood "leaves" (they are really more like fat, soft pine needles) so that I can create some of them with the embroidery program on water soluble stabilizer -- then they can be attached to the quilt only at the stem end -- sort of like a real tree would be with the "leaves" loose and moveable

(Ok, I'm probably not explaining this real well, but I can see it in my head!)

Progress on other Christmas projects is going well, and I've also been working on the hand bag I've been improving and started on the next beaded architectural piece.

Oh yeah, and working on Christmas cards --- just rolling along!!

auto knitting

both in the "auto" and sort of on "auto"-pilot!

one thing that happens when we travel any farther than just a local errand is that I get a bit of knitting done on projects that don't require a lot of counting or close attention to details

yesterday we went to visit with my folks, so I did knitting

two afghan squares complete! I need to do only 4 more to have the box full so I can mail it off --- and I want to do that before Thanksgiving -- looking good!

It's done!

after a lot of adjusting and tweeking I have declared this piece officially finished

and I'm pretty pleased with it!

here are some close ups of the individual blocks

a visit from the (computer) doctor

it's almost as good as a visit from Santa! My sister and her husband (whom we refer to as the family computer doctor) came to visit yesterday, so now my computers have both been checked out and scanned and the most current versions of everything loaded --- whooo hoooo!! (who says doctors don't make house calls any more?!)

the lace scarf is all finished -- blocking one of these is amazing -- almost like magic

so now this is all ready to be wrapped for my friend in California, and it's on to the next project






fabric (brought to me by my sister) for another mystery project in process








the drawings are done --- now it's on to the coloring (got to LOVE coloring!)

then it will be time to print and laminate

lookin' good

NOW it's done -- and other progress reports

right to left we have the first beaded aspen leaf, the second beaded aspen leaf and the third beaded aspen leaf

third time is the charm!

now I can finish the autumn wall hanging and move on to a new quilting project!

more chilis

I've been fiddling with the embroidery features on my sewing machine

(about time, I've only had the thing for almost 10 years!)

on this one I discovered how to use the rotate mode



I thought I would run out of pins before I got this all pinned down!

this is my first excursion with blocking lace, and let me tell you, there has to be an easier way (no doubt all of those class-smart, experienced lace knitters know all about it)

anyway, it's drying, so I'll so be able to count another project as complete!




and here we have the templates for the king (the one with the bear's head) and the Jack (with a bird's head)

this whole project has been an interesting blend of old fashioned drawing combined with using the graphics software on my computer

I've learned a lot and it's been fun

and we're getting close to the home stretch!




this morning I'm off to the doctor for my annual "would you please write my prescriptions" visit -- time to get rollin'

No tricks, just treats

keeping busy on a Saturday Halloween!

earlier in the week I had done this beaded aspen leaf to finish the embellishment of the fall wall hanging, but it just didn't look "leaf-y" enough




so the last couple of days I did this one

but I'm not completely happy with it either

I think the veins are too dark

there is a possibility that I will be pulling this one apart too and restitching with a more muted green for the veins

this system of redoing something until it's right is a new thing here in the past couple of years

since the pressure of getting things finished while juggling too many other things is off, I have learned to step back from each piece and let ideas "perk"

I think it has resulted in much better work

since I'm trying to get Christmas projects complete, I worked on this one yesterday

(if you have forgotten, I'm making a deck of playing cards for my mother's collection for Christmas)

I have finished all of the numbered cards and the aces, which leaves only the face cards (and the joker) to be completed

this is the template I did for the queens in the deck

each one will be a bit different (for each suit)

it's coming along





and this is the fabric for one of the other Christmas projects

one that I actually finished yesterday

a new record has been set for the earliest date to have the Christmas PJs complete

on Halloween!!





since I had the machine out, I decided to do some embroidery work for another Christmas project

got to love those chilis!!

these are part of a bigger "in process" item



I finished the silk lace knit scarf last night, so today it will be on to the blocking of that piece -- oh yes, and I went ahead and cast on the next one -- a totally different (and easier!) pattern {this is SO like me to do the hard thing first -- like wanting to learn to play the piano by learning Moonlight Sonata!}

projects are definately moving along!

wherein we discuss artistic frustration

I've been working on a project for Christmas -- sort of -- that entails the use of small (about 11 x 17 inches) pieces of fabric in prints for various holidays in the year

a lot of this project is done, and I was thinking, "no problem, I can knock out the rest of this in a jiffy"

being as today is halloween and thanksgiving is right around the corner and birthdays go on all the time I figured I'd be able to find some fat quarters with appropriate print on them and finish this right up

au contraire mon ami -- it seems that no one has these, at least not in a scale that works (shall we say that pumpkins and corn that take half a yard to do a repeat are a bit on the over-large size!)

why is it no one else has telepathically understood that I would need these and had them at the ready?

this may mean that I will be dragging out all of the Copic markers and doing a bit of fabric creation of my very own

just saying....

winter weather pursuits

it has FINALLY stopped snowing

yesterday's only excursions out of the house were to haul the trash barrel out for pick up and to bring it (and the mail) back into the house

both trips required full winter gear and the application of the snow shovel

makes the time spent working on this little guy seem even more appropriate!

he's been stamped and colored and now scanned

the plan is to print sheets of card stock with as many of these little images on them as will fit (I'm guessing I can get 5 of them on a page) then they will be used on this year's Christmas cards

it's a work in progress

when I started on the knitting projects yesterday, I had 4 items on the sticks --

right now I only have 2

this afghan square is complete -- this makes 30, I really do need to get a box packed up!

I have finished the knitting of the scarf I'm making from the silk lace weight yarn -- or I should say I have finished the first scarf I'll be making out of that lovely stuff -- I haven't even used half of it yet -- more projects to come from that

progress on the gold sweater continues -- I have now done the cast on for the front and back, so it takes a bit longer to knit a row now -- it looks really good too

today we plan to venture out -- we want to make our monthly trip to walmart to pick up vitamins and a few other things that we buy there because it's the cheapest place in town to get them

time to get moving

beading for the quilting

beaded leaves to accent the quilted wall hanging -- aspen and maple

haven't exactly figured out how I will attach these yet, but I'm working on it

I'm still waiting for the stick to dry out enough that I can finish this project

it's snowing -- in fact it has been snowing since yesterday morning, so we won't be going anywhere today -- good time to work on Christmas presents

more Africa pieces

more gazelles

since I was stamping things to send off to my friend in California, I did some more panels for me to play with

the one on the left is from the same stamp as the single stamping I had done earlier

the one on the right is the second stamp I cut -- slightly different


another elephant

the last one I did was the mama with her baby

this one is more the "big daddy"

it is a lot more difficult to do shading effectively on an animal that is already very dark

I may try using some lighter tones over the paint and see if I can actually create some highlights

this stamp amazes me every time I use it --- one of my better "did I do that?" moments





and I rather like the lion

when I first stamped it I was a little unhappy with it, but using the fabric markers improved him a lot

now it's on to putting them into some scenery -- stamping of bushes and trees will be on the list of to do items

yesterday I started working on the beaded aspen leaves for the fall wall hanging -- got the first one about 1/3 done

time to get moving -- we want to get our errands done before the snow really sets in

gold sweater

the sleeve is coming right along

I love that pattern up the center -- it might be fun to knit something with that pattern in larger areas

Christmas projects are moving right along

(which is why I have nothing else to show you right now!)

the binding on the leaf piece is now done, so I'm waiting for the stick to dry a bit before I seal it and put the whole piece together --- I pulled out the beads to make the brick stitch aspen leaves yesterday, so I can get those done

penguins marching?

ta da!

from the drawing to the stamp

a little bit of "clean up" needed to take off the lines at the tip of the beak and on the tummy then we're ready to move to the next phase

I've not made my Christmas cards from scratch before, and I have to say this is kind of fun!


yesterday I completed another project, so the box of Christmas goodies is growing, I just can't show you pictures yet!

today I'll be doing the last phase of the charity auction -- addressing the envelopes for the thank yous to the folks that purchased items from us -- time to start thinking about the next project

stuff on the sticks (some literally!)

one of the bad things about living here in the mountains is that this time of year we are subject to frequent changes in the weather as cold fronts roll through

unfortunately, that also means that from time to time I must deal with a nasty sinus headache

yesterday was one of those days

so I didn't get as much done as I would have liked to, but I did work on this for a little while

this is the lovely fine silk yarn I bought while I was in California this summer, and now that I've finally gotten the hang of working with it (and having the right tools helps!), it's coming right along

the pattern instruction says I'm about half way done with it -- I may decide to make it longer (patterns just being a suggestion after all)

yesterday I had one of those "you are SUCH and idiot" moments and remembered that when you are knitting with a set of Denise needles, you can always take the tips off of one project and work on another

I did a swatch with the newly refreshed gold yarn and found out that my fussing about already having something on the size the pattern called for had been a gigantic waste of time and effort because that size worked up way too big for the guage anyway! (geesh!!)

so, here is the beginning of the sweater -- 2.5 inches of ribbed cuff (which the pattern does not call for, but the DH wants on his) and the first four rows of the patterning stitch (which is nice looking but there isn't enough of it to show up on the picture)

real progress!!

the quilting on the leave project is done and I'm working on the binding -- yesterday the DH suggested that I might want to use an actual piece of an aspen branch to create the hanger for this, and I think that's a cool idea -- he even went out and trimmed one off the tree for me -- he also suggested that I might want to use some of my brick stitched leaves and decor at the ends of the branch -- another great idea!

progress is being made on the album quilt too --- I only have 8 more blocks to quilt then I start the long border edges -- this really has gone much quicker than I thought it would

afghan squares and penquins?

right now the afghan squares are the only knitting I can show you

(ok, I'm working on the silk thing, and I could take a picture, I just haven't done it!)

but seriously the other knitting I'm working on right now is a Christmas present for someone that reads this, so I'm not telling!!

after some of the other squares this one is kind of mutted, but nice

started another one too

I was going to start on the revised sweater, but I can't remember where I put the needles I need ---NUTS

still working on Christmas card ideas

check out this (very) rough drawing of a penquin

I'm thinking about turning him into a rubber stamp as a starting place then using beads, glitter, etc to make the cards

we'll see how that goes

gazelle

here's what he looks like after I used several different Copic markers to put in details and shading

I'm rather pleased with him!

I still have another piece with 2 gazelles facing each other to do -- and the lion

I was a little worried how this would work since much of the black on this is done right over the brown paint that I stamped and I wasn't sure how well that would work, but it was not problem

the quilting on the leaves piece is in the home stretch -- just a little bit more in the third block then finish up the "viney" parts in the borders --- looking great!!



I've been fiddling with ideas for a Christmas card this year

this was one of the attempts -- I kind of liked the humor of having the giraffe put the star on the tree because he's so tall


today's idea has to do with penquins

I think I see more rubber stamp cutting in the near future!