4.19.12

This is called the Around Town Tote. It took a couple of weeks longer than it normally would have. I decided to work on it only in the OASIS classroom.  It wanted to be much wider than you see it here in the side view but I was able to impose my will upon it.

With the help of some covered wire I bought on a reel at Christmas time but never used, I strung the long sides closer to each other after I installed the lower rim for the handles. It waited that way for two weeks while we had a week off for Easter.
 I like it natural with deep tan accents and handles but what I had in mind was a warmer color for the reed so the accents and handles would look like they were all part of a finished piece. So, I used plastic wrap and blue painters' tape  to cover the braided leather and then sprayed the tote with an oil-based basket stain.

See how the new color makes it work all together? Now for the liner...

4.18.12.FMQC

The April FMQC teacher of the month is DON LINN. His unique idea and method take the fear out of free motion. I down loaded his design and got my materials ready and gave it a shot! My results are not spectacular but with practice I think this is a method I will be using in the future. Thanks, Don Linn.

4.18.12

It is supposed to be an apple basket but you can see that it has decided to become something else. the sides were to be vertical to make a smooth surface to insert the pegs for the swing handle.

I should have known. At the beginning, it could not go together fast enough and yet it resisted my attempts to shape it early on. It was as though it had its own purpose in mind and could not wait to fulfill it.

This is what it SHOULD look like when
it becomes an apple basket but I am thinking it may want to become a potato basket...with handles incorporated into the rim.

4.17.12

TEA TIME MONDAY has been moved to TEA TIME TUESDAY!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/RAMCeramics

I like all her work. How could I help it? Miniatures that are tea sets--or vice versa.

4.16.12

TEA TIME MONDAY has been moved to TEA TIME TUESDAY!

I had HomeSon's camera with me the day I took these dogwood pictures. The pictures came out clean and clear but in a RAW file. I had to get him to translate them into jpg so I could mess with them and show them to you.  I think I would make the first one into a greeting card.

And when I get some of that Bubble Jet stuff, I will use this for some quilt labels. Maybe. There are so many photos that show my love of this area of the world it will be hard to choose.

4.15.12

 My wild irises, which I promised yesterday. Mom says Grammie called them Blue Flag.

4.14.12

Rhododendron? Maybe. I am not sure. Took these pictures at one of the churches I pass on the way home from points south.

Although I have no purposely placed irises, my own day lilies look like they are hale and hearty and may bloom this year. My husband has cared for all the flowering things in our yard.  I think he has the makings of a gardener. Hope to share those day lily pictures when we have blooms. Come back tomorrow and see our WILD IRISES--a bonus for having a more "natural" landscape.

4.13.12

No, we do not have any azaleas on the property. But, if we want to leave our area and go ANYwhere, we pass this beautiful stand of pinks.

 We also get to look at various wild indigenous orange azaleas.

And these I saw near the pinks. They remind me of a wedding dress. Easter week was full of flowers around here and even though there was FROST on our car yesterday morning, I have more flowers to show you tomorrow.

4.12.12

NOW I like gray in a quilt block.

I did not ask for permission to show you this block, but trust me--CLICK HERE and look at Sukie blog or CLICK HERE to go to the flickr page.

I have been lagging behind the rest of the quilting world in my love affair with the color gray. You know, afraid it wouldn't sit with me in the cafeteria in front of my friends, afraid it would ask me do its homework while it was dating other quilters, afraid that if I made a big emotional investment--and financial investment--that it would never love me the way I deserve. But I took one look at your quilt block and I think I am in love. I would even write letters to gray if it were in prison.

4.11.12

If you are my friend on FaceBook, this is already old news to you. When I have free time, I am playing with my new toy, which I won! You can see my name in the post, announcing my name and at the bottom you can see my pansy avatar. I am currently using pansies as a signature. Now you know why there are pansies in the picture!

Yes, I am here, posting late. I have been at some sort of quilting event two days in a row and I just barely have time to post before leaving to go to Crazy Quilting. Husband and I are going south to visit family soon and it was difficult to plan around all the sewing and quilting meetings and classes. 

4.10.12

I used to live in the state that has this 

 one of these

 and several of these.

Now I live in the state that has this

and this  

                                        and this

If I ever go to Iowa, I plan to see this.

4.9.12

Nothing could possibly be cuter.

4.8.12

How about water colors? Clear colors, with a transparent quality. Truly, in the back of my mind, I know water colors are not a good option for a quilt meant to be functional. Still, I have to try. See how far I am coming along finding things for the "garage sale"? Yeah, that kind of went by the wayside.

I really enjoyed working with the water colors. I see a lot of potential for their use in art pieces. I see some water color classes in my future. I think my recent acquisition of a book called Floral Stitches by Judith Baker Montano sent me that direction. She sometimes paints a foundation for her "layered" approach. It is the kind of book I can "read" when I am too tired to read. The pictures and diagrams go into my head without having to pass through the printed word translator part of my brain.

I have absolutely no practical experience with water color on paper. I have read three books and looked at countless internet sites about it. I have a basic understanding of the theories. I think I could be free enough to just play with the colors. Do I really want to take classes?

4.7.12

I scan a frog that would fit right into the "missing frog" formation. I crop out the border which is not wanted, but even with the expert help of Home Son, I cannot arrange for the thing to print out at the size I scanned it in. No reason to hurry and order the Bubble Jet product.

I have the brilliant idea of making one to sort of match. I try Paintstiks from Cedar Canyon Textiles.I mask off an area with tiny quarter-inch tape that I have cut into fourths to fit around the slender leaves. I give up when it comes to the lily pad and just cut the tape into halves.

My first experience with Paintstiks. The colors I usually love to see saturated are far too saturated!

Yeah, too dark but there may be other uses...

4.6.12

So. One of my guilds is having a "garage sale". Again, I go through my stash looking for just the right things with which to part. Oh, oh. I found batik frog squares. I bought them years and years ago. They are sort of 4.5" square. Sort of. Oh, look at this fabric! It is a pretty creamy sea foam turquoise. Is that really a color? Some of the frogs look  quite nice. Probably not enough fabric, though. Oh, here is some muted taxi yellow. Good thing when I was playing with my Sunbonnet Sue I selected the smaller piece of this to function as background. Oh! some of the frogs look great!

These frogs came in sets of 9. I bought a set with a coupon for 40% off at my favorite central Florida fabric store, The Sewing Studio in Maitland. Several years after that, I realized 9 little squares would not make much. I ordered two more sets to boost an order from eQuilter. So, now there are 27 frogs. Even with enough border on each one to make the squares 9.5 inches each, 27 squares is just not enough for a quilt. I need one more. I could order another set and add another column. I would still have one left and I would be out $15.99. 

What should I do?

4.5.12

Wild irises? It is hard to say. I hope so. I transplanted some of them to the area near the porch steps, also. No irises in bloom just yet. 

See my tulip? Several years ago, I had a student who asked my what my favorite flowers were. I told her tulips and she gave me several bulbs as a gift. They come up every year but so far, no blooms. I will check into the type of fertilizer that encourages blooming.

4.4.12

My mother's mother was a phenomenal gardener and was active in her Garden Club. I can remember being with Grammie in the garden when my grandfather brought over a wheelbarrow of natural fertilizer (fresh manure) from the barn. There was a tree that she had surrounded with a square of planned beds. 

 I could not tell you what she had in those beds, I was too young to really take note. I DO remember finding wild white violets not too far from where she was working. I thought they were so magical. 

One day she showed me a wild strawberry and it had a tiny berry on it. It is no wonder that I was excited to see the wild strawberries  near our driveway last year. The deer ate the little berries before they were big enough to turn red. THIS year, I found wild white violets! I was so excited about their purple relatives and even tried to transplant some of them from the west side to the area near the steps of the porch. But WHITE ones? I am beyond excited.

4.3.12

Remember how thrilled I was to see dogwood in our front yard last year? Well, it is time to marvel at their loveliness again.  I plan to order some of that Bubble Jet product, treat some fabric, and print out some of my flower photographs to use in some projects. I also have all that work I did with my kaleidoscope pictures saved and ready to print on fabric.  I supposed I should order a bunch of printer ink refills, also!

 Wouldn't this one be great for a quilt label? I could just put my name and date in the sky part.

4.2.2012

Here is a new idea. Would you like to learn to draw a teapot?

GO HERE. 

Not only do they provide a really easy tutorial, they have an easy to use drawing pad so you can try out the lessons on your own computer. Look for their other drawing lessons such as house, coffee pot, cartoons, manga, figures, just about EVERYTHING. Here is the directory.

4.1.12

It may be hard to tell, but this is the inside of our car hood and those are acorns. Mostly shells, but some whole. You would think they would store them somewhere else--inside something that does not start up and drive away several times a week. The mouse living in the passenger compartment has been caught but we are unsure if he has any family.

3.31.12

This quilt detail from Dana Marie Design Company shows little batik frog patches made in Java. I had three sets and spent yesterday putting big sloppy borders on them so they could be trimmed to the same size. Some of those little fellows were less than 4.5 inches square, some were more, and some did not understand the concept of square. Now I have to decide what to do next. I have 27 of them.

3.30.12

Take a look at Scrappy Hen and her Scrappy Eggs. No, I did not make her yet. She is a pattern by Happy Heart Patterns. I think she AND her eggs have potential...

 

Did I show you how I enhanced Ned's purpose? He was a sponge holder, now he holds pins and needles. I filled his sponge hole with a fabric covered batting ball. Now he is Needlesome Ned.

3.29.12

Chicken Scratch! I love all-cotton gingham in EVERY COLOR and EVERY SIZE. In fact, I love just about every woven plaid.  What makes Chicken Scratch so great is the needle worker gets to hold GINGHAM and do some embroidery at the same time!!!!!

If you like it, too, you can find out how to do it HERE.

Look HERE, HERE, and HERE to see some elaborate chicken scratch work. I think a couple of carefully planned pieces would make lovely borders, cornerstones, or featured block centers.

3.28.12

Cleaned some more, the piles are smaller.  I looked at the calender and realized I need to start up again on applique.  That is fine with me.  The last piece of base fabric is attached on on of the three central panels on the crazy quilt. I will spend the morning on the little flower ring applique and possible yon the Sue and Sam applique blocks. Then off to yoga.

3.27.12

Sorry, not much to report today. I keep cleaning the studio and it explodes before I get completely finished. Today, I have Crazy Quilt all over the place. But--I HAVE corralled most of the hand embroidery for other projects and put away a few other "works in progress"!  All the pins and all the needles are pretty much where they belong.

3.26.12

This I found on a Russian site right HERE.  I have always liked cherries. I remember one time in either kindergarten or first grade, the teacher had a clear plastic tree with cherry candies on them for us for Washington's birthday. I remember asking her if I could have another and she said it would not be very nice because there were not enough for everybody to have a second one. I do not think I said anything but I STILL think she should have let me because no one else was smart enough to ask.

3.25.12

What ever could I do with only one sample block? I wish I had seen this quilt at the Pigeon Forge Quilt Show before I put batting and backing on my one lone applique wreath. It has something like 17 borders around it. That makes it a sort of Medallion quilt. I know you can see at least seven pieced and applique borders. Can you see the plain slim ones in between? I agree that this one deserved to be a ribbon winner.

3.24.12

This beauty from the Pigeon Forge Quilt show surely does appeal to me. It has geometry and saturated colors. I will bet you are wondering why it did not get a ribbon. I learned two important lessons when I looked at this one up close. You will have to email me, text me, or ask me in person if you want to know what I learned.