work continues

actually, I've been pretty productive since I last got here to post anything

the bead embroidery work on this piece is complete now, so I'm moving on to the leaf pieces that go with it

since I had finished the quilting on the two big pieces I was working on, I decided to pull out and finish the last two in the shed door series

it feels good to finish a project this big -- even if it did take me over two years to do so!

next up for this series is the photography session as there is a gallery that has expressed interest in having the entire series in their space (pretty exciting that!)

so this will be the next thing under the needle

I finished putting pieces in a few days ago, and after looking at it for that long, I've decided it's time to fuse it down, put the "sandwich" together and start quilting

and since that piece is at that stage, I've been working on the concept "drawings" for the next one in that series

this is already a "did I do that?!" moment, as this entire piece is something I created in PhotoShop from bits and pieces from a number of photos I have in my file

it's time to create the "map" and start thinking about fabrics to do the fusing of this piece

this is a close up of the bottom section of the next Parched Earth piece

and this is the concept for the finished work -- you can see there on the left side the beginning of that cracked dirt portion of the piece

as soon as the background layer is finished, I'll start in on the tree which will not get applied to this until a layer of silk is put on and the first quilting done

and since I'm thinking about how I'll do that tree, I did some experimenting with some scrap fabric

a friend of mine makes her pieces by building the individual units that make them up on a piece of parchment and fuses them together then she can put the parts together

I've been thinking about that, and wondering if that technique will work with the materials that I'm using for my pieces

this experiment shows that it will

the picture on the left is the raw parts laying on a sheet of parchment, the picture on the right is the entire unit after I ironed it to fuse it and peeled it off the parchment -- it still maintains it's "sticky note" usability, so this experiment was a success!

these 4 dogs (and one more) all came out of the same litter

except for the two black ones, they barely look related!

because Gypsy is so unlike either of the two labs we have previously had, we decided that knowing just what is in her genetic background would be a great help to better training and less angst

the DNA test kit went in the mail yesterday, so by the time she's going in to have her spaying surgery in mid July, we should have a much better idea of just what we've got

meantime she continues to entertain and baffle us

(the picture on the right should be titled:  "You talking to me?")

this week's activities include my dad's committal service at Ft Logan National Cemetery tomorrow morning, a dentist appointment and a test to determine if my ongoing gut pain is being caused by a non-functional gall bladder (I've been dealing with this since February!) -- it's going to be a full week

self medicating (it's a good thing!)

if you've known me a while (in person, or only through the magic of the Internet), you know that I work on a lot of different things at once

a friend of mine told me last week that I was "self medicating with creativity" -- she's right -- making art is one of my chief coping mechanisms when I need to feel like there is still order to things

last week was one of those weeks

and as a result, a lot of work got done

this little necklace for my daughter is all finished -- even the small adjustment to the clasp that I needed to make is complete

this piece, titled Parched Earth I, is finished -- that tiny 1/8 inch wide binding was an interesting challenge, but I really like how it looks

Soma the Red Dog is all done and ready to go to the framer -- through the magic of PhotoShop I can show you what it looks like with a nice clean edge even though I haven't cut it yet

and having finished all of those, I worked on other pieces

this panel is moving along nicely

it has had it's challenges -- like when I decided that I really needed to back the top 2/3 with blue and the bottom 1/3 with brown to represent earth and sky after I had already placed all of the tree trunks and some of the leaves --

yeah, well, that was a challenge to carefully work from one edge to the other, picking up the pieces one at a time and putting down the new background

I like it a lot better now

and this piece which will be Parched Earth II

last night I finished the sky portion and started working on the earth part

since I like doing a bit of machine work during each studio session, I have have returned to finishing the last two of the shed door pieces

even though this is a small piece (about 12 inches by 12 inches) there are still a lot of little details to be stitched

one of the bead groups I belong to does challenges that are designed to be larger and more detailed

we begin with a list of suggestions for a theme, then we vote and the theme with the most votes is what we work on for the next couple of months

for the first time ever, one of my suggestions was the favorite, so we are working on pieces that are to be inspired on an ancient culture

after having done several pieces that were Egyptian inspired, I decided to do something that is based in the Greek culture

moving right along here!

of course we have to have some sort of puppy picture

last week for the first time I noticed that Gypsy has "wings"

you can only see these when she has her front legs spread out and her head down between them -- how cool is that

now as for the claim that she's an angel -- not so much -- still a wild ginger dog!

Stanley Philip (Phil) Blunt

He passed quietly on June 10, 2016.

Phil was born in Ottawa, Kansas, in 1926, the son of Bruce Keith and Mary Myrtle (Ross) Blunt.

He served in World War II in the Navy from November 1944 to July 1946

Married Betty Lee Stowell in February, 1950 in Denver, Colorado.

Survived by his wife Betty; daughters Beverly Haring (Nick), Nancy Green (Felton); grandchildren Philip Hodgdon and Dorothy (Haring) Barnhart (Nate); great grandson Asher; sister Ruth Owen

Committal service will be held at 10:15 a.m. on June 27, 2016, at Ft Logan National Cemetery

His pain is no more, his soul is flying free.

because it's June!

okay, if you hear a chorus singing "June, June, June, just because it's June" when you read that title you are as big a musical theatre fan as we are!

and June has picked up right where May left off with being busy, busy, busy!

this week's utilitarian sewing -- two brand new pair of board shorts with cargo pockets for Mr Cute

the bracelet I had been working on for an online challenge is all finished

cool tiger eyes!

and I'm in the middle of doing the chain for this piece, which will go to my daughter as a belated birthday present as soon as I finish it

the tree trunks are all on this piece, and I have finally gotten the drawings done for the layers of leaves --

my plan for this afternoon (as soon as the laundry is done) is to start putting those on

this is a test

I'd been trying to decide what to do with the edging of this piece

that really skinny (it's only 1/8 inch wide!) binding looks like just the right thing

I actually have it all stitched on there, but no pictures of it yet ---- watch this space in the next post for a picture of the final work

this is the beginning of the next piece in this Parched Earth series --- moving right along building a cloudy sky

my wood flower garden has been relocated off the deck to a space along the fence behind the vegetable garden

Miss Gypsy was way too interested in nibbling on these, and I don't want to have to spend every moment yelling "NO" when we are out there, or never being able to turn my back

the corner where those were is now occupied with a bright pink wading pool which she is having a lot of fun in!

the new catch phrase here:  "Why do I smell wet dog?!"