moving along......

since I totally blew past the deadline for this piece

I decided to work on a new idea while I'm waiting for the beads to arrive to finish it

so this week I worked on these

the idea is to create some samples so I can do custom orders -- either as memorial pieces or like Mother's necklaces

each of these is a clear glass cabochon with a photograph sealed to the back of it -- and since I needed a photo to use, I decided to use the photo of the memorial quilt I made

these are coming together nicely -- I will be doing one more -- a round one and I plan to use copper colored beads around it

then I'll get to work creating the Etsy listing for the custom orders

at the sewing machine this week I finished quilting the bottom of the background for the Parched Earth II:  The Tree piece

this week I hope to get the sky done

making good progress on the Parched Earth III:  The Truck -- the sky and the mountain are done and I'm working my way across the fields and the fence

the farm piece on the design wall is coming together nicely -- I did some new techniques when I created the barn and the silos by building those with all their little "fiddly" pieces on a piece of parchment first then installing them in a whole piece

what's left to do on this now is the big round bales of hay at the bottom

since the farm piece is nearing completion it was time to create the next piece in that series

this is the map for the city all ready to go

a few weeks ago we made a tough decision -- not to keep this little fur baby with us

adorable -- absolutely

but she never connected with us enough to ever want to do anything to please us

we agreed to foster her until the rescue group we got her from could find her a new home -- she needs someone younger or just more physically able to take her out and get her the exercise she needs -- and we would never be able to do that

this morning she went off to a new home --- perhaps Gypsy was absolutely the right name --- we hope to hear more about her adventures from her new family and we wish them all the very best

going faster by slowing down

last week began with a trip to Ft Logan National Cemetery for my dad's committal service --  here is what I said there:

Dad didn't want us to make a fuss.

When he told us that he was not going to do any more surgeries he said there was no need to hold a gathering 

Sorry dad, as the survivors, we just over ruled you 

A few years ago,  we took mom and dad with us to Springfield,  MO, where we were doing an art show  

Dad had a baseball cap that said WW II Veteran on it 

During that weekend I saw people stop and talk to him and thank him for his service  

He never talked about it, and we didn't really grow up thinking of him as part of what has been called the “greatest generation” -- but he was 

Which brings me to why we over ruled him  

We believe he deserves this tribute and the honor of a final salute

In the time since he passed, I have received a number of cards from people I barely know that are members of my local quilt guild -- it has been a sweet reminder that even strangers will give you a hand up if they know a little bit about you

On three occasions during that time I have had a quote from Marianne Williamson included in either a personal note or some other communication online:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.  Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.  It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.  We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?  Actually, who are you not to be?  You are a child of God.  Your playing small does not serve the world.  There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.  We are all meant to shine, as children do.  We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.  It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.  And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.  As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

This reaching out by others has resulted in an odd phenomena -- the odd sensation that as all this caring is a stream of water pouring into the glass and running over the sides in the form of ideas and art work

here is what that art week looked like:

 the bead embroidery on both of these is complete -- I still have a few more of these to do for the project, but these came out really well!

the quilting has begun on the first piece of my Evolution series - the forest

and I have begun the work on the next piece - the farm

the tree for the second Parched Earth series - the tree is coming along well -- as soon as the order from Dharma Trading arrives with the needed silk organza I'll be able to start quilting the background of this piece too

I have finally figured out a background for the truck piece I created earlier in the year

this piece began as a "one of" stand alone, but now it will be the third of the Parched Earth series

this was what the first parched earth piece looked like before I decided to cut that top third off of it

I saved that piece because while it didn't look like dust (which was my original idea), it did look like fire

unfortunately, I had already done quite a bit of quilting on it before I decided to chop it, which meant I had to "skin" it so that I can move forward with the idea I have to make it into a piece on it's own

a piece that will involve using some of these shapes

I don't know yet is this is another "stand alone" piece or if it will fit in the parched earth series -- I'll have to decide that later

of course there is the required picture of the wild ginger dog -- we started a new obedience class on Tuesday and she is doing very well -- sometimes a totally different approach is what is required

Onward to another 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!

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?!"

how did it get to the end of May already?!

as I write this I'm having a hard time figuring out where 5 months of the year have gone already -- yes, time must run faster as you get older!

this had something to do with it

and on Friday the final papers on the sale of my parents house were signed

the buyer is going to "flip" it, so I'll be watching to see what they do to the place

early in the week my daughter, son in law and Mr Cute were here to help us set up a gardening area in the back yard

Gypsy was a great help too, as you can see by this picture

Saturday morning the DH and I put the plants in the ground --- tomatoes for putting up and for eating during the summer and poblano peppers which we like the taste of for everything from chili to scrambled eggs -- and a zucchini -- even though my daughter planted one and will share, I need to make pickle relish for our food storage this year, and zucchini is my preferred veggie to make it from, so I hoping for lots of production in both yards (we also eat zucchini raw in salads, roasted as a veggie with an Italian meal and a number of other applications)

since we've not gardened in this yard before, it will be interesting to see how this spot produces

keeping our fingers crossed!

yesterday evening I finished the beading on this piece

now I need to get the backing (which will be a soft black upholstery velour) put on and make the beaded clasp

here's lookin' at you!

quilting on the red dog piece continues

I think it gets better the more stitching I do, and my stitching gets easier as I do more of it too

I had to take a break from working on this early in the week because I was waiting for the fusible I use to arrive

now that is it here, it's back to work, and so far I'm pretty pleased with it

no week is complete without some utilitarian stitching

Mr Cute needed a new sun hat and his mama brought this very cool ninja turtle fabric

this was the best hat yet in terms of my being happy with how it came out -- guess it's time to make the DH a new one with the new techniques I used for this one

office dog

studio dog

big dog!

 Gypsy is 4 months old now -- at her vet visit she weighed 25.6 pounds and got her rabies shot

on Saturday morning she gave us a scare when the pupils of her eyes looked strange -- one being very small and the other very big -- glad to be able to call a vet that knows her and get reassurance -- apparently dogs do this sometimes and on a brown eyed dog I would never have noticed -- oh those devil eyes!!