making design decisions

number 1

number 2

number 3

now that the pieces are ready I have to decide how to put them all together

and of course how this actually works out will depend on how the string up goes

which one do you like?

Elphie and the divining rod

I took this picture (and several other angles) on Saturday in our side yard

it's a little hard to see, but what inspired the picture taking was the stick she had picked up and had between her front paws -- it looks like a diving rod!

what I did not notice until I opened the picture on my computer screen later is the awesome shadow pattern across the picture

this will be going into my file to turn into another art quilt

meantime, work on sorting, packing and moving stuff continues -- I'm struggling with not having any time to work on art projects as my sewing just now is focused on getting Christmas projects done, and there has not been any extra time to do art between those things -- feeling pretty cranky about that mostly because I can't see the end of it right now

trying to deal with what appears to be the new normal of pain level now that cold weather and storm fronts are rolling through is not doing anything to improve my state of mind either

just trying to soldier on

some more progress

these are going much quicker with each one I make (now if I could just sit down to work on this project at a time of the day that I don't nod off into a nap!)

I have 3 more of these to do then I'll be trying out the combinations to put this piece together

I love this little guy

this was my first attempt at piecing a background, fusing something on top then doing detail stitching over that

the stitching really brings out the details

now it's on to the quilting!

dinosaur spots!

the knitting is rolling along

spent a lot of time the last few days working on sorting, packing, trashing and rearranging -- made enough trips up and down the basement stairs that my knee is bothering me again (NUTS!)

hoping for a little working and a little art time today as soon as all the week's paperwork is done

onward!

Before and After

there was something not quite right about the picture on the left

so I made some changes 

now I'm ready to move on to the quilting 

and I'm starting to think about the next piece from this series

four done -- seven to go!  looking good

more spots -- this project is rolling right along too

the project to move my studio from where it was in the dining room to it's newly rearranged home in the basement is progressing nicely  -- when my daughter and son in law were here earlier in the month my son in law helped us carry all of the big tubs of fabric down there, and the DH and I have been slowly moving smaller things there since --- I'm nearly to the point that I can at least start working on some Christmas sewing soon

most of this week I've been struggling with a sinus infection -- finally this morning starting to feel less woozy and achy -- things are looking up

changing direction

sometimes once I get into a project I decide something needs to be changed -- in this case, the triangle bead at the top left of the picture just didn't work for me

so I redid it

I like the square better and the colors are a lot better

so now I have 10 more of these to do

then there is this project

even though I really liked the look of the first version, it turned out that the yarn I began with is a color long ago discontinued so I can't get any more of it

so, we began again last night with different yarn -- more spots this time -- I think it will be good too

rolling right along

all of the aqua colored crystal beads have their framing

so do all of the dark blue one

now it's on to the next color!

the knitting of the dinosaur toy is going well -- except I need some more of the yarn I'm using

this is being made out of a cotton yarn and there is not enough of it in the two little balls I had from a prior project to do the whole thing --- I'll be trying to remedy that today

success!  the camper has tail lights!

I think this is ready to be sandwiched and quilted now

time to get moving --- lots to do -- laundry, shopping, packing, etc., etc.

Testing, Testing

before I can move on to the next steps on a couple of projects, I needed to test out how well the techniques I plan to use would actually work

the "test" on the left side is a stencil that I cut from freezer paper to see if I could use it to paint the tail lights on the camper  --  it worked really well

the "test" on the right side is a color photograph printed on fabric -- now that it has been heat set, I need to do the washability test -- keeping my fingers crossed!

yesterday we put up most of the rest of the tomatoes from the great garden stripping that we did the first weekend of October at our daughter's --- eight pints of San Marcos plum tomatoes all ready for the shelf and future making of pasta sauce -- YUM!

this project is moving along --- I've nearly finished with encircling the crystal beads of this color

and I finally remembered to take a picture of the shell I'm knitting for myself -- love the color and the pattern, but it is only getting about half an hour a day as I'm trying to get other Christmas projects finished --- 

time to get back to work!

Stealing time for the studio

even though we ran errands yesterday and did some more work inside the house, I did get some time to work on art projects too

the pieces for this project are slowly coming together -- circles are more difficult that triangles or squares

the quilt top is almost done --- a little more to do, but I need to experiment with a technique first to be sure it will work

this one is coming along too -- and also needs some experimenting on some scrap fabric for the next step

and the beginning of another Christmas project

this is the beginning of a toy that I hope to be able to stuff in the top of Mr Cute's Christmas sock 

that big bin of yard clean up trash is scheduled to be picked up today -- yippee!!

time to get moving, need to make our monthly trip to Costco this morning, then back to work on projects

my how time flies!

Can't believe it's been almost a week since I posted here!

As I said then, we are working hard to get our house ready to market, so we're busy

over the weekend my daughter and son in law came down to give us a hand with the heavy outdoor work

we got a Bagster at the local hardware store and on Saturday there was major pruning of pine trees and ash trees 

my son in law even removed a dead aspen tree -- felling it neatly into the neighbor's drive way -- which was exactly where it was supposed to go as the neighbor is going to cut it up and use it for firewood

at the end of the day we were all pretty tired -- including the dogs -- two of whom decided that on my daughter was the right place to warm their feet and take a nap

I have been working on this project some -- putting these vintage glass beads into beaded triangles

the piece these are for is going to be in a competition if I get it done by the deadline

yesterday afternoon the quilt show in Denver that I hung back in September had to be taken down

take down is always easier that putting one up!  it took about as long to drive there as it did to take down the show

which meant I finished another of these afghan squares  --  last week I shipped off a box full, and I need only four more to fill the next box -- rolling right along

time to get busy -- lots of laundry to do today, and I need to pack up those quilts and get them mailed back to the artists

a new direction

we've been cleaning things out, packing boxes, filling up the recycle bin and the trash can -- all in preparation for putting our house on the market

one of the things I found in this clean up was a tub full of mohair birds from another artistic lifetime --- still very cute stuff, just not what I do anymore

I've started putting these out on my Etsy store at very reduced prices in hope that some of them at least will "fly away" to new homes

if you're interested, you can use the link to my Etsy store there at the top right side of the blog

even though we're deep into those house projects, I have managed to get some other things done too

this hat for instance, which will be a Christmas present

last night I finished the sleeves on another Christmas knitting project

and I'm very close to finishing the quilt top I've been doing the applique work on

yesterday I spent time waiting for my van to get new tires -- I haven't put tires on it for a long time, and we decided that we wanted to go into winter not worrying about the tires, so I used the money I recently earned doing an organizational project to take care of it

while I sat there I finished another one of these afghan squares

today, when I go out to run some other errands, a box of those afghan squares will be going off to be made into afghans by Close Knit Hugs

and the box that has these hats and mittens in it will go off to the Cheyenne River Reservation

feels good to have these ready to go!

time to get to all those other projects

two steps forward, one step back

progress is being made on this project

I have three more pieces to encircle, then it will be on to figuring out the next step

it's been fun creating all of these -- each little beaded surround with little "handles" at each end like casserole dishes so they can be strung together with other pieces (think paper chains from your childhood -- that's the basic idea I have in mind for the making up)

it's time for the great pack up

I have afghan squares for Close Knit Hugs and mittnz and hatz for the Cheyenne River Reservation that are ready to be packed into boxes and shipped off

I hope to get the packing up done today so these can head off to their destinations on Monday

the season of Christmas sewing is fast approaching

my daughter picked up this flannel -- I will be making it into a pair of PJ pants for Mr Cute

there's just one little problem with beginning on the Christmas sewing

you may recall my talking about this little Rube Goldberg contraption that I did so I could finish a prior sewing project

yesterday afternoon I took the machine to the local Viking sewing center because I could not get the replacement light bulb to work

she tried -- same result -- which means for sure it has to go in and be officially serviced -- meaning it will cost at least $75, and will be away from me for a while

not happening right now -- sorry

so this morning I ordered this from Amazon

because my machine's casing is plastic and because it has a little mini-computer inside, I can not use anything magnetic around it

this little LED light is free standing and runs on a single AAA battery (a size that I have rechargeables for)

I'm hoping this will get me through the Christmas sewing season, then the machine can go in to the shop in January and get a good going over


time to get busy -- lots to do

Catching up -- and it's time to vote

the contest that this piece is entered on is being voted on right now you can go to this LINK and vote for your favorite piece in the competition

over the weekend I was in northern Colorado, staying at my daughter's house and running a charity auction -- we raised a chunk of money to help Loveland Opera Theatre do productions of The Mikado

while we were there, we had Mr Cute try on his Halloween costume

this is one happy dinosaur!

one of the things that we helped with at our daughter's was the stripping of the garden before the first frost of the season

Mr Cute stood on a stool and "helped" his mom with the washing of the tomatoes as his dad did the scalding and the tomatoes got skinned and cooked and put up in jars

what fun!

one of my favorite quilt stores in my daughter's area is closing it's doors, so I went and did some shopping -- picked out some fabric to use for some future quilts

I'll miss being able to visit this store -- they had such a great little shop

apparently I'm not done with this whole pumpkin theme

I did this drawing on a note pad Saturday while I was waiting for other things to happen with the auction

the plan is to make this and have another go at trying to put a piece on stretcher bars

and more pieces for this project are coming together

3 crystals and a piece of really pretty druisie quartz

time to get busy -- lots of things to do!

chili days

when we visited with our daughter a few weeks ago, they did a big picking in their garden

their pepper plants did very well this year, and we came home with a bag full of various sorts

this is a string of jalapeno peppers -- all of them were a shiny dark green

the DH strung them together and we hung them up

it's been fun to watch them change color -- we're going to let them totally dry then grind them into powder for using in cooking

food for the tummy later, food for the eye now

I've started working on a new piece of jewelry

this one is all based around specific color, and right now I'm just working on creating parts

not sure exactly where this is going, but so far I'm pleased with how the pieces look

meantime, I'm nearing the end of the applique work on the landscape quilt I've been making -- I hope to be ready to start the quilting in the next couple of weeks

time to get to it