Quilt show in Battlement Mesa

More cards for sale....

This card on the left has already sold. I love using lavender and orange together for fall.

My super hero alter-ego

I have given this a lot of thought (well, as much as my short attention span will allow) and I'm pretty sure I have a super hero alter-ego. Her name is I Wonder Woman. She goes about her life saying, "I wonder where I left my glasses," and "I wonder what I did with my good scissors." Almost daily it's, "I wonder what I should make for dinner," and "I wonder if I'd like my hair really really short....or red."
I'm sure I'd get a lot more done if she'd just go away.....oh, look, a chicken!

More cards, Dexter, dyeables....

A few more cards that are or will be for sale at Grand Valley Books.

Dexter sometimes sits with his front feet between his back feet.

Lace and trims that I dyed recently. They all started out white, and through the magic of alcohol inks, have been transformed.

And five more cards. Someone needs to teach me how to move photos around on Blogger. I used to be able to do it easily, but since they  "improved" it, I haven't figured it out.

Tomatoes!

We actually ate 3 cherry tomatoes a few days ago. There are two more almost ripe and one large tomato, too.

More cards for the bookstore

Two more cards for sale at Grand Valley Books.











And two hearts sent off for a swap on CQ for Newbies.

Just try it....

....just try getting out the back door.













But first you'll have to fight your way into the front door.

 

Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2015, part 2

I am woefully behind on this project, but still plugging away. I originally pieced the first 3 blocks for January, February, and March at the same time, and thought I was so smart to be ahead of the game. So far I've only embellished 2 of them and part of the 3rd, but I'm happy with them.

I love the silkies I bought to use, and while the blocks may not all get a "saying" on them, I hope to do the little thread sketch for each. We'll see how that pans out.

Green thumb?

I'm the first to admit I don't have one. But the things in my yard that I mostly leave alone and just provide water do okay, like these red hot pokers. They are more plentiful and more intensely colored this year than ever. They always bloom around my birthday; a little early this year, but that's okay.

I'm not sure if the camera captured it or not, but the first of the moon flowers have had a distinctly lavender tinge to their outer edges.

These pansies seeded themselves from a hanging pot I had last fall. They bloomed into early December and started up again in February.

 More pansies. This year I bought orange and purple violas and an orange variety called "whiskers".

I have great hopes for these two tomato plants. One is a husky red and the other is husky cherry tomato. I've had good luck with the yellow pear tomatoes in the past, but my family doesn't think they're as flavorful as the red ones.

Zack, Corbin, and Dozer with the red hot pokers.

Some things....

....that I've been working on lately. The first two are examples of note cards I've been making for sale at Grand Valley Books. I've made a lot that haven't been photographed; they've gone straight to the store.

This is the first one I've added a spider to, and I was a little concerned it wouldn't sell, but it did.

This is what I made for my mother for Mothers' Day. She lives in a nursing home and neither wants nor has room for a lot of décor. I attached this to her bulletin board.

One more crazy cat and a question

Here is my latest (and possibly last) crazy quilted cat. It was made on commission for a lady who purchased one of the two that I donated for a craft sale to benefit the local humane society. I don't plan to make any more for the bookstore, as they had their run there.

And here's the question: does anyone have experience using this type of fiber/thread? In a short google search, I found that it is used in Brazilian embroidery or stump work, but not how to use it, for instance, couch it, stitch it with a large needle?
Two skeins are color 81 and the one at the top is slightly lighter and marked 83. I think it might be 1950's vintage, but not sure. It says 100% poliamida, so not a natural fiber.

Tutorial for stitching tiny pansies

Here is how I stitched the little pansies on the two pieces on the bottom.The drawing below illustrates the first steps and where to place the first three cast-on stitches in relation to the French knot.

 

First I stitched a line of stems to put the flowers on. The initial stitch is Cretan on top and chevron on the bottom, but you don't have to use this exact stitch. Just something with fairly even spacing is fine. Above the top of each stem, I stitched a French knot in yellow-green.

 

 
 

 Sorry this is out of focus, but here I have stitched the first petal (7 wrap cast-on stitch) on the left and have positioned the needle to take the wraps of the second one on the right.







This shows the needle positioned to take the 10 wraps that form the larger bottom petal.








After completing the row of flowers in the light yellow, I go back and add the petals that sit right behind the top two petals. I used a darker yellow for these petals, and they are also done with 7 wraps.

The finishing touch is just a touch from a fine point purple marker to make the darker "face" patches.

Here is another example, done as an insert for a notecard.