wait -- how did it get to be Tuesday already?!

normally I write this post on Sunday morning, but I just didn't get there!

I was busy doing things like entering these two quilts in a Regional SAQA show -- a process that sometimes makes me a little crazy since each show seems to have it's own idea of what the photos should look like!

In order to take these two pictures (and the two detail shots that go with them), I wanted to get my design wall hung -- FINALLY!

we managed to accomplish that last week -- hurrah!

this piece is finished and has gone to the professional photographer to have pictures taken so I can enter it in a national competition -- because of the shiny surfaces and the light colors I just didn't feel like I had the expertise to take the kind of quality photos it will take for this piece to be accepted in that competition

the deadline for entering this piece is Saturday (Happy Halloween!), so I'm sliding in right under the wire with this -- a little too close for my comfort

and this is the beginning of the next big piece I'll be working on -- working title is "out to pasture", and I'm just fiddling with line drawings right now, but I'm getting excited to start working on it

the edge of this piece is finally finished!  so now I'm working on the fringe -- which is proceeding in the usual two steps forward, one step back approach -- it's getting there

meantime, I'm working on a couple of Christmas presents that I can't show you here, but they are moving along too

and these hats are the beginning of my Christmas card creating -- stamped the pattern four times on a piece of card stock and colored each hat differently then scanned them into my computer and printed out 5 pages -- 140 little hats to be cut out, and I'm over half way done with the cutting ---- moving right along!

time to get back to work

Winter's coming and we're getting ready

if I had any doubt about fall being in full glory and winter on it's way, I'm reminded every day when I look out my office window at these two trees that are across the street from our house

beautiful color!

because that is true, we've been getting ready for winter too

last week we moved everything off of the deck and I put on a fresh coat of stain/sealer on the floor and the top of the railing all the way around

we thought we were going to have to buy the stuff to do this with, but found that the previous owner had left about half of a 5 gallon bucket here after that did this in the spring -- YEAH!

when we do the process next spring I'll have to pay for it, but that was a savings of about $65 and I'm happy to do that

this was a big accomplishment for last week too --- the van being parked in the garage!  

there are still a few items that we have yet to decide where they will go, and all 35 plus boxes of Christmas items are out there in the garage, but it's nice to put the vehicle inside

we turned the last of the garden's tomato harvest into 6 pint containers of pasta sauce that went into the freezer

we used some of it the night the DH created it, and it was really good stuff

I'm looking forward to the taste of summer in these containers during the winter months

this is the last big thing that needs to happen in my studio

the piece of soundproofing board that will be my design wall is all covered and ready to hang 

I used an old white cotton blanket right over the soundproofing board and a layer of white flannel over that -- oh look!  it's a quilt!!

we'll get this hung this week and the new secret project I'm working on can be worked on more extensively

right after we moved here I joined the local quilt guild

I love this group -- they are diverse and interesting and welcoming -- it's a wonderful thing

last weekend was their annual show and boutique at the local fair grounds and each of us was invited to enter 3 pieces in the show

these are the 3 that I entered

it was pretty exciting to see pieces from this series all hanging together!

even with all the around the house work, I still managed to get some art time

the edge beading of this piece is moving right along -- as I suspected, using the tiny size 15 beads is a lot more time consuming, but the edge is beautiful!  

this week I hope to get to the fringing

even though I don't have an updated photo of this piece, I can report that the quilting is complete and yesterday afternoon I cut the edges so I can put on the binding

running right up to the deadline on this, which makes me really nervous, but it is going to be amazing

and then there is this

the beginning of a brand new piece that I'm working on the design for

I've been fiddling with the idea in my head for a couple of months, and now that the  Tsalagi piece is close to finished, it's time to start putting it on paper

looking good so far

cooking and sewing and beading -- Oh My!

last week's activities involved some canning, and this week's involved cooking with a vegetable that I had never tried before

my daughter's garden produced a bumper crop of spaghetti squash, which we had never eaten, but this recipe was really good

if you'd like to try it for yourself, I've posted it out on Hattie's Kitchen

we had another little home improvement done in the garage this week -- these three steps from the garage floor into the house originally had no hand rail

on Monday the same contractor that did my studio came and put up this amazingly attractive rail for me

Yeah!

this piece is ready for the backing -- I tried one type of material and it just was not up to snuff

so I ordered a piece of suede to take care of that issue, which arrived yesterday -- I'll be getting back to this piece soon

in the mean time, I started on this piece

my plan for it will involve doing some bead woven parts to create the necklace --- but I've set it aside for now while I finish the blue one

the quilting continues on this piece

and I've decided to use the tear drop shaped beads off the edge of the trail as part of the "finish" on that bottom edge

 

and the costume for Mr Cute is finished!

he loves it, and while there will be other Ninja Turtles out there trick or treating, there won't be another one that looks like this one!!

Yahoo!!

it's fall!

we moved into the house when the trees were bare, and I still have no clue what some of those trees are, but one of them is celebrating the change of the seasons by turning it's leaves this glorious color

WOW

fall also means lots of pumpkins and apples in the stores

so we took a day off from other work and put up applesauce

it was a lot of fun to have my daughter here working on this project too -- 9 pints for us, 6 and almost another for her

yummy

 

the DH has been busy in the garage workshop

each of my stereo speakers now has a lovely solid wood stand -- gets them off the floor and really improves the sound -- nice!

this is a little project he's building for a friend of mine that spent several hours teaching me some new techniques that I believe are going to make an enormous difference in my art work --- this is a little "thank you" gift -- a stand to sit under her work table that has a lip around 3 sides so the sewing machine pedal doesn't scoot off the edge

we emptied 3 big trunks and 2 little foot lockers this week -- and most of the doll and bear collection has been found and installed

I have a few more little pieces that I want to put in cases in my bedroom, a few for my office and a few for the studio, but we're mostly done with that part of the unpacking

this picture could be labeled "future home of the design wall" -- we got the space all marked with blue tape yesterday, ready to hang it up as soon as I finish getting it covered

got these hung on the wall yesterday too

yup, there is a little space there for growth in additional spools of thread, and this does not include the hand quilting threads -- just the ones that my sewing machine will play nicely with

this is a lot easier for me to see at a glance what I actually have available

the week wasn't all about house work, however

the "suit" for the Ninja Turtle costume is all stitched together, so now I'm working on the accessories

I finished the bead embroidery on this piece -- I need to dig through the tub of leathers and upholstery velours to find the right material to cover the back of it

and yesterday I finished quilting around each of the figures walking on the trail and started quilting on the trail itself

I need to keep working on this every day as we are now in count down mode on it -- only 27 days left to finish the quilting, do the edge and get good photos before the deadline to enter

Must.Work.Faster!