This and that

Yesterday I did 3 loads of laundry, cleaned house then started playing with a new technique for my Art Diary (before getting little ones from school. Wed. is my babysitting day). I'll post pics this weekend, if it turns out. I saw on someones blog (I have to find out her name) where she did some stitching on the fabric to batting, then applied modeling paste, then some inks and bleach. Not sure what my results will end up being but the original post looked really cool. I finished stitching my piece while watching Tigers last night (they lost!) and I'm going to use Gesso instead of modeling paste today so it can sit and dry for a day or two. We'll see how this turns out and what it's good for! If anything!

Friday and Saturday I'll be at a workshop by Lenore Crawford. You have to check out some of her work. She makes her own patterns and enhances them with paints and thread work. There are about 19 in our class and I'm really excited to finally take a workshop with Lenore.

You have to check out this video! Talk about hand/eye coordination!! You really have to appreciate the fact he's flying this plane inside, let alone all the loops he's doing! It's really cool!

Guess who came to dinner! And had to cook!

Look who came to dinner! My "Italian" friend, Louisa! In my previous blog entries, I mentioned that Lois Ann surprised us at our fiber meeting last week, arriving from Italy the day before. She's been quite busy taking care of passport issues, dental, eye exams, etc. but she took time out to come to the house today. We were going to go out to dinner but I thought it might be nicer to stay at home to eat and talk! Which is what we did. So I put LA to work, cutting vegetables, grilling, etc. We had a great time.

Here' is the chef herself, Lois Ann (or better known as Louisa!)

So after our dinner of grilled chicken and vegetables, we went on the computer to look at pictures LA and her hubby have on facebook. Oh my gosh! What pictures!!! LA lives in Torino, which is in the upper region of Italy. Being so close to the border of other countries, LA and hubby, Kendall, are able to visit France! and Switzerland! How cool is that! I got to see lots of pictures that were just outstanding of the skiing, castles, fortresses, museums and even some pictures of their home. Which, by the way looks so neat!! Guess there isn't 'grass' for lawns but a lot of ground cover. Some of the roads are SO narrow! Take the bus! The architecture is amazing and the Po River is a sight for watching 'racers' (can't remember what their 'canoe' is really called). LA said folks are quite relaxed and will sit in the parks (throughout the day!) with their dogs and just watch other people or a sunset. And cafes abound! Which would be right up my alley! LA said the coffee is quite good (as is the chocolate!). I really enjoyed seeing the pictures and it made me feel like I had just visited her new town! LA's daughter, Kara, who is a college student here in the states, has visited twice so I got to see their family being tourists! What fun!

Here's LA on my computer logging into facebook.

Even Mandy wanted to get in this photo op!

LA will be heading over to Canada (she's Canadian by the way) this weekend and coming back next week. She's going to try and 'hook' up with us one day, if possible, to meet up with our original Aussome 6 fiber group. What a nice evening we had together! THANK YOU, LA!! I really enjoyed the time with you and seeing your new home!

So just to had a bit of fiber. Here's the graduation quilt in the process of being quilted. I ran out of bobbin thread and had to reorder some which I hope will be here by the weekend. It's coming along pretty good. Oh, Robert update...feeling better and only coughed a few times last night. He's on the mend but still congested. Still needs a nurse for a few days!

The Patient and The Tree Project

OK, so a patient and a tree don't necessarily go together...but the patient has a sinus infection (hmmmm, just like his wife said!) and Dr. put him on antibiotics (just like his wife said he needed). Wives are good for some things...now if husbands would only listen. At least Bob got checked out and his chest was clear which I was concerned about. I did diagnose him as having bronchitis too. One out of two isn't bad!

So check out the finished Tree Project from the International Fiber Collaborative! This was the organization I sent leaves I made for it a few months ago. You can check my blog entry and see my leaves here. If you go to their web site, you'll see pictures of how the tree was installed and it looks like it was quite an undertaking. Isn't this a fantastic project!! So cool! I'm glad I participated in it...not sure where my leaves are but at least I know they are in good company!

Monday, Monday

Well, hopefully we'll get my better half in to see the Dr. today! Finally! Bob and I both got a cold before we left Florida. Only problem, he liked it so much he's kept his for about 6 weeks! The dumb cough has held on and held on and he finally has decided maybe he should see the Dr.! This has been a real bugger of a cold. A lot of the friends we hung out with in Florida had this same cold and one of them actually ended up in the hospital with pneumonia! She's feeling better now but still having some complications. Now I just hope Bob doesn't have that!

So, in addition to the Dr.'s visit, taking Mandy to the beauty parlor, we'll also be picking up Bob's new car today. It's a Saturn Vue which is the same vehicle he already has except this is a 2009 model. It's a perfect car for him to 'toot' around town in and holds all of his golf clubs, hats (all 32 of them!) and sweaters and wind breakers. Honestly, the back seat is filled with clothes and hats! We both love the Saturn cars (I have the Outlook) and we're so sorry to see GM discontinue them. But that's another story........a sad one at that!

Louisa!

The CCC fiber group I belonged to had a huge surprise on Thursday! One of our members, Lois Ann, moved to Italy last year and she surprised us all by coming to the meeting (actually she arrived at the restaurant to share a meal with us first!). We were so excited to see LA! We do miss her. Here's our own, "Louisa", as we like to call her. And she brought wonderful chocolates from Italy for us to enjoy, in addition to her company. LA and her hubby will only be here for a week or two, then heading back. We're hoping to meet up with her for lunch one day before she goes back. We do miss her!!!
Beautiful day again, starting out with a temp of 68 @ 7:00 a.m.! Perfect weather for me...windows open and fresh air throughout the house! This is my kind of weather. Off for 'date night' tonight with kids. My first turn since arriving back from Florida. I'm sure we'll be outside most of the time riding bikes or playing ball. Kids love being outside.

Darrin sent me an article/email note on a presentation he did on milling/tooling. He received a nice note of 'thanks' from the Sandvik customer on the tour he did. Click on the photo to see my 'baby' in action. Nice article.

Bob and I can certainly be proud of all of our kids! They are each great adults, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, aunts and uncles! Guess we did something good, didn't we!

Go Tigers!

Yes, Bob and I are Tigers fans but these LATE night games are just too much! Tigers are out in California so the games don't start until 10 p.m. We finished watching the game in bed but I had to shut my eyes around the 8th inning. Bob stayed awake to watch them win. One more late night of watching our Tigers! Then they will be on at a normal time. Whew! We old folks can't stay up like we used to!
Sun is shining and Bob is off for golf. I'm getting roots dyed then my fiber meeting tonight. We're going to be working with Polymer clay so it should be an interesting evening. I'll post pics tomorrow of our work!

Art Diary Page 3 finished

Here is page 3 of my Art Diary! If you click on this picture you'll see more detail and if you click on My Art Diary on the sidebar, you'll see individual closeups of some of the techniques.
The background fabric was given to me by my friend, Mary Andrews. It's a snow dyed piece of fabric and I loved the colors! Perfect background for my birds and flowers.

This page consists of different transfer techniques (I've been posting on some of the methods). I finally attached the pages together with small D-rings on the sides. I'm really pleased with the results and can't wait to start page 4! Not sure which technique I'll do for that page. I have several other projects to work on that have due dates so I might not be working on the next page until June 1st.

Amber called last night and wants me to bring her bike so she can ride it home from school. Doesn't look so nice out right now..cloudy and overcast so we'll have to see. I'm staying for dinner with the kids tonight, as we're making dinner together. Should be fun!

Missing Friends & Food? and more transfers!

Last night Bob and I went to our local Mexican restaurant for an early dinner. We had a great meal and really good Margarita's but we did miss our Florida friends! The last few times we ate Mexican in Florida we were surrounded with at least 3 or 4 other couples. What fun we had..oh sure, Bob and I enjoy each others company but it's also nice to share a meal (and drink!) with friends. This was the first meal we've eaten out since arriving home. We almost didn't even go since we couldn't decide where to go. I don't think either of us wanted to go out that badly!



So back to doing some transfers. On Joggles.com they had a tutorial on Liquitex Tinted Image Transfers so thought I'd give it a shot. I first tried this using paper, per tutorial, but my transfer ripped badly so I tried it using muslin as my substrate. So, the first step was to mix Liquitex ink with Liquitex matte medium. I didn't have any Liquitex ink but I did have some Adirondack Alcohol Inks and Liquitex Acrylic paint.

Don't try using the acrylic paint as it was way too thick and results didn't work on the paper or on fabric because of that. The inks did work, hence, I'll only show those results. After mixing the medium with some ink, I used a brush and applied onto my muslin. That's on the left (I used a brown ink) and my picture from the magazine is on the right.

Next, you lay the picture on top of the painted area and let dry. I didn't use the heat gun, I actually was patient and let it air dry. What you see in this picture is the back of the magazine picture. Also, this picture is when I was using paper to apply the ink/medium to, so the pink flower with the butterfly will look different from the last picture. Did I confuse you?? I forgot to take pictures of the same process on muslin but you'll still get the idea. Same as last transfer, after the piece is dry, you place in water and let soak. With the fabric and medium, it did need to soak a little longer then the paper. Start rubbing to remove the paper from the muslin. Here's the results! Not too bad and this will be used on my Art Diary page 3.

I think I have enough transfers now for page 3. I did start quilting my background piece yesterday and hope to get the transfers sewn on sometime today. I'm trying to talk Bob into going to the Dr's. as he still has a bad cough...he's not a good patient!!

Another What If Moment!

I'm working on page 3 of my Art Diary which will be using different transfer techniques. Yesterday, I played with the Liquid Sculpey Bakable Transfer Medium again. I've transferred pictures from a magazine which turned out really good before (I'll show those in another post) but I had one of those 'What If' moments. 'What If ' I could transfer some Deco Parchment leaves I had on hand. For some reason, I thought perhaps the ink would transfer as the magazine picture did. Well, it didn't but the results were really cool!
Here's the parchment leaf I had along with my transfer medium, spoon and glass dish. I found using glass to hold the medium cleans up easier then plastic.I took about a tablespoon of the Liquid Sculpey and using a spoon covered the entire leaf. I placed the leaf on an old piece of contact paper to work on. You can see how the transfer medium is very white on the leaf.

I then took my heat gun and dried the medium. You do have to be careful with the heat gun as it can burn if held too close. Your transfer will not longer be wet or tacky when it's totally dry. It will feel rubbery!

The next step is to place the dried, coated transfer in warm water for a minute or too. This is to remove the excess paper (the ink should transfer to the medium). You then rub the back of the transfer removing the paper. So I started rubbing and the entire parchment leaf came off.

This is the result! I have a leaf outline in the Sculpey! It's really cool!!! I am going to place it on my Diary page along with the other transfers I've done. Guess it does pay to 'What If'!

So with the rain today, Bob won't be golfing but will be taking his wife to dinner tonight. Agreement we made last night. We do need to run errands but I'll get to play some more today. I have a piece of snow dyed fabric my friend Mary gave me which is beautiful. I'm using it as my background for page 3. I want to get it quilted today then start placing my transfers on it. Can't wait to see how my new 'what if' leaf fits in! So have a 'what if' day today!

Race Day

Darrin had his Spring Adventure race yesterday and my DIL decided to surprise him at the finish line by taking the kids and 'Mum' with her! Wasn't that nice of her! Kris really does support Darrin in his racing and workouts and between the two of them are setting good examples for their kids. So here are so pictures from the finish line (which the guys got in WAY before we got there! - Guess we under estimated how well they would do!).

Ed, Darrin (my baby!), John and Scott. This is a two man team 10 hour adventure race. The start and finish line was only 20 minutes from the house which made it nice for everyone. And the weather was beautiful! Last year their adventure race consisted of 30 degree weather, snow, rain, sleet and just plain cold! So this was a nice change for the guys!
This race consisted of Trekking/Orienteering with a minimum of 4 miles trekking; paddling in a canoe at least 12 miles and mountain biking 15-25 miles. All of the mileage is dependent on the route and number of check points achieved. These racers travel through a variety of terrain from trails to dense brush, woodlands and swampy lowlands. You can't see all the scratches on their bodies but believe me they are there!

Here are the results. John and Scott came in first place overall with a time of 3:51 (p.m.) and Darrin and Ed came in 3rd overall with a time of 3:55 (p.m.). The race started at 8:00 a.m. and cut off was 6 p.m. Darrin also came in 2nd in his age group. Good job guys!!!

And of course the little ones enjoyed a picnic along with a friend! This dog was so sweet and patient. She just sat there waiting to see if she'd pick up a snack. I don't think she ever did! The kids were so good..climbing trees, taking pics and just enjoying the day outside!

The weekend

Friday a friend and I went to a local quilters guild meeting (Genesee Star Quilters Guild). It was really nice to see all the ladies again. They are a wonderful group and quite talented. There was a very interesting lecture in the afternoon by Sheila DeRose who does beautiful Japanese designs. Her focus is on using The Elements (color, angles, lines, etc.) together in your work. I certainly learned a lot from this woman and can see why certain pieces of art I do work better then others!
Oh, one little note...I think I left my camera at the guild meeting...hence, no pics to show today. So I pulled this small quilt I made two years ago (I think that time frame!). It was part of a challenge our group of 6 did. We had a picture of a Beta Fish that we each did our interpretation of. Mine was made with painted bubble wrap then loads of beads! I couched fibers down for sea weed after free motion quilting the background. There are tons of beads in this bugger but it was really fun to make.
Weather is beautiful today which is good. Darrin is in a 10 hour adventure race!! At least it's not raining for him!!!

Geezzzz - Keys!

On Wed. I arrived at the kids house, opened the garage but then couldn't get into the house. Duh! I remembered to put back the kids garage door opener when we arrived home from Florida but I forgot to put their keys in my car/purse. Oh well, worked out ok. Kids and I went to the library and Darrin left work early. I'm staying for dinner next week so that will be fun. Kids and I will make dinner for their mom and dad..that's always fun.
Sun is out and it's suppose to be really nice for the next few days. Can't wait to have the windows opened and fresh air blowing through the house!
Sewing day today with putting the sleeve on my Musings piece and then working some more on page 3 of my Art Diary. I'm doing mainly transfers on this page using transfer dyes on Lutradur, transfer paper, Translucent liquid Sculpey (which is great) and using Liquitex medium and inks. I have transferred a picture of a bird using the liquid Sculpey and TAP transfer paper. The Transfer paper was really slick. Normally you have to iron really hard and for at least 30 seconds but this transfer paper took seconds! Transferred very easy and didn't distort or stretch out. Only draw back you can't iron over the piece so I'll have to be careful but I would use/buy the product again. It's sold by Lesley Riley who is a wonderful fiber artist.

Wednesday

With the rain yesterday, Bob resorted to bowling (one of his best games!) but looks like today he'll be back on the golf course. It's suppose to be in the 60's by Friday so perhaps I'll start working on some weed and lawn cleanup.
My friend, Carol T. sent me this email yesterday. I think it's rather cute!

LOSING A FRIEND: THIS IS A VERY TOUCHING STORY ABOUT LIFE & DEATH, AND THE FRIENDS THAT WE HAVE. IT'S CERTAIN TO STIR UP YOUR HEART, TOUCH YOUR SOUL. THIS EMAIL IS ONE I COULD NOT AFFORD NOT TO SHARE WITH MY FRIENDS. I'M STILL CHOKED UP OVER IT!

Now I know why I eat egg beaters! Have a great day!

Start of another week

Hard to tell what day it is for us retirees! Isn't that terrible...you have to go by what you watched on TV to know what the next day is! What's really bad is when we watch the Tigers on TV then we're totally lost as to what day it is!
Monday I went back to see my friend in the nursing home. I made two signs up for her 'For the Good Times' as this was a saying she would repeat time and time again. It just became her saying and anytime I hear it I think of Patty, even to this day.
I also printed out some old pictures of Patty (dark hair), Linda and myself when we worked at Dr. Kerr's. Wow! Here is one of the pictures that was taken in 1970's! Check out my huge glasses! Linda was a BEAUTIFUL girl and I mean beautiful. Skin like porcelain and so tiny! She did modeling and I remember she used to do hand modeling as well. Sadly Linda passed away of breast cancer before she turned 30! This picture was taken about about two years before Linda died.

I also took Patty a CD player and the Ray Price 16 Greatest Hits CD. He was a favorite signer of hers and 'For the Good Times' and 'You're the Best Thing that Ever Happened to Me" were to of her favorite songs. To this day when I hear them I think of Patty...I always have and always will. She started to cry when she listened to 'For the Good Times' but I told her not to cry but laugh at the memories...which we did. Patty is a hoot and we did laugh as she told some of her stories. I really want to write down some of these but couldn't really share on the 'net' and just not sure who would like to hear them.
I printed all the pictures and writings on PostIt note papers and put them on the wall at the foot of Patty's bed and one on the ceiling above her bed! At least she can look at the pictures and words rather then the gunk on the ceiling. Patty was sitting on the edge of the bed and looked better then on Friday. We had a really nice visit again for about an hour and I felt so much better leaving her.
Patty's husband called me on Sat. and said they are 'painting and fixing' up the rooms on the opposite end of the building and they'll be moving all the patients to the new area at some point in time. Who knows when! It just won't be soon enough! I didn't look at the new painted area yet but will on my next visit. I still think it's not as nice as the Medilodge in Sterling Heights (Patty is in the Medilodge of Rochester Hills) but I'll hold off any more of my opinions until I check closer next time.
I've been working on page 2 of My Art Diary. This time I was playing with sewing on metal using 36 gauge metal. If you click on My Art Diary at the sidebar it will take you to the 2nd pages (at the bottom) to see some of the metal up close. So off to dentist today for a cleaning then back home to work on page 3 of my Art Diary!

Easter Sunday - Family, food and fun!

What a nice Easter day we had with the kids. Great food, conversation and fun! It was SO nice to have the kids and us together for the morning. I haven't seen them since we got back (except for the little ones and Kris). So here's is Nick at the beautiful table Kris had set. Nick took off his good shirt so he wouldn't get syrup on it! Now there's a good mind!
And here's the food we got to eat. Actually, there's more behind all of this picture you can't see like waffles, blueberries in syrup, fresh fruit, etc. Really good! And check out the cinnamon buns! YUM!

Nick made Grandpa his egg. He wanted red dye but ended up with pink. That's ok, I told him pink was grandpa's favorite color! He didn't believe it either!

And Amber made my egg. We actually ate them for dinner last night! I made egg salad sandwiches (minus yolk) for dinner. We really weren't even hungry with all we ate in for breakfast!

And here's a beautiful plant Dawn and Jeff gave me! It's too pretty to put outside (and too cold!) so I'm enjoying them inside right now! Aren't they just so vivid in color!

Kris and Darrin got me this tulip container. The bicycle plant holder is cute too. That will make a nice addition to the deck or out front. Plus, I needed more tulips to plant outside so these will be perfect!

Of course, there's always a mishap at dinners or get together...so it was Grandma this time. The bowl of blueberries dropped from the frig and landed, guess where! Yep, on my pants. Amber took the picture and did a good job, didn't she! And yes, with some Oxi Clean and Shout I got all the blueberry stain out! Guess I could send before and after pictures to each company!

Auntie Dawn got each of the kids their Easter 'basket' which contained one of their favorite things - Tattoo's! Hopefully, they'll get this phase out of their system with the fake ones and not get any real ones! Hate to see them on the folks in the nursing home(s)! Here's Amber putting on Nick's tattoo! They took turns doing each other.

And here's Amber's tattoo on her back. It does look cute and it's washable! YEA!

Here's one of Nick's tattoo's. I think he put on 3 or more as did Amber. Grandpa told him when he starts to wrestle he needs to put those tattoo's on to intimidate the other guy. Nick wants to go into wrestling. Hmmmmm

So that was our day and it was so nice! I really just want to sit back and watch and listen to the kids when I'm there. I love them all so much and enjoy being with them. Now a days every one's schedule is so busy that I feel like I'm just adding to their already busy schedules to plan a get together. Maybe I just need to do that anyway.

Happy Easter!

This is Lea! Isn't she just the sweetest, cutest little dog!! She's Mandy's new email buddy! They haven't met in person yet but Mandy received this Easter Greeting card from Lea. They're going to get together when the weather breaks for a play day here at the house. Lea belongs to a quilting friend (whom I haven't seen in quite sometime!), Lou Beveridge. Lou does beautiful quilting and last I knew was also doing a lot using digital photos and digital scrapbooking. I'm sure she's quite proficient at it by now! I can't wait for Lea and Lou to come visit!

So from Lea, her mom and our family, Happy Easter!

Mortality

Oops..I had the same name for the nursing homes so had to correct. Medilodge actually has 14 or 15 of these homes in Michigan.

Well, yesterday was quite a day for me and certainly got me thinking of my own mortality. Two ladies I know are in nursing homes so I took the day (& Mandy) to visit both of them. The first one was a lady I worked with at the Dr's. office for 19 years. Her name is Patty and she was a hoot in addition to just being a good friend. Her health has been declining and recently she was 'put' in a nursing home. I have to say I was shocked to first see her in this state but second to see the state of the nursing home. Sad as well because it doesn't look to me that her family has brought any of her own belongings to the home to at least make her feel somewhat still attached to the real world. How terrible! In addition, the 'home' (and I use this term loosely!) is dark, smelly, just down right depressing! Can I name names..yes, the home is Medilodge in Rochester. OK, nursing homes, hospice homes are just that..I understand...but golly, make the room a little cheery at least! So I'm going back on Monday and I'm going to put some pictures (of my friend and I in our 'old' days) hung up along with taking her some music to listen to.
So that was my first visit and I'm glad it was my first. I then went on to visit another dear lady who is my DIL's grandma, Eileen. Eileen is the sweetest lady and I've always had a soft spot for her. We would only see each other at gatherings at the kids house but I would look forward to talking with her. Eileen is in Medilodge in Sterling Heights and WHAT a difference! This nursing home is delightful, cheery, smells good! and NOT depressing. Eileen's room is decorated so nice with items from home, cards, etc. Now Eileen does have a wonderful support system with her daughter, grand daughter and all of their extended family. So is that the difference? Anyway, I did have a nice visit with Eileen and I'll get back to see her again. I feel good knowing she's in good hands. Eileen has a roommate who is 92 but she wasn't in the room..guess she's been there for 3 months. I asked what was wrong with her and Eileen said "nothing I can see, she looks like she's in her 70's and she just likes it here!" Good for her and does that not tell you something about that particular nursing home! Can't say that for poor Patty's nursing home. Patty said it was "horrible" and I agree with that. I couldn't sleep last night without thinking of poor Patty lying in the bed staring at the ceiling (which had stuff on it! Stuff on the ceiling!!). I can't wait to go back on Monday.
So is it my right to say anything to her family? To the nursing home? To anyone? I told my son and DIL my savings will be spent on taking care of Bob and I here in our home..when we run out of money and no one can take care of us then PULL THE PLUG...I don't want to live like my friend Patty. I know it's a controversial subject but there's something to be said about euthansia for animals but we let our own suffer.

Musings - Nature Becomes My Muse

On Thursday our small fiber group met for our monthly get together and lunch. We had a really nice visit showing our work and seeing what everyone has done. Since I've been gone it was nice to see their work in person vs the pictures. This is a really talented group of women and it's so easy to be inspired in your work just by seeing what everyone else does. So I got to finally show my Musings piece I did for the SAQA exhibit. 'Musings' is a juried show that will be held in Grand Rapids from June thru August this summer. Because it is a juried show, I don't know if I'll get in or not so I'm just keeping my fingers crossed! Of the six of us in our group, 3 of us did enter a quilt in the show. My friend Carol painted a circle piece that is spectacular and I'll post her quilt after the show has been selected and is on exhibit. She did a beautiful job on it. I haven't seen Mary's piece yet but I'm sure it's stunning as all of her work is! So this is a closeup of my Musings piece (click on first picture to see the whole quilt) . It's called 'Nature Becomes My Muse - My Muse Becomes My Art'...deep isn't it!

This is a rather large piece, 36" x 55" but I did have fun working on it. I sun printed the large leaves several years ago when I attended a five day workshop in Ohio with Mickey Lawler. The leaves are machine appliqued and I painted over my free motion quilting (words and flower edges). There's a great book called 'Fall Photographs' by Christopher Griffiths that I used to make my leaves. This is a fantastic book that displays one leaf on each of the large pages of this book. Really cool if you're into leaves or just photography

My new best friend

This is the new free motion couching foot (Bernina #43) I purchased at the seminar in Florida. This is the best foot to use if you want to couch fibers on. This presser foot allows you to feed cords, ribbons and braid directly under the needle, so that lines and shapes of any sort can be precisely guided and sewn on. A regular couching foot is fine if you are just straight sewing lines or gentle curves, but this foot you can just go crazy and couch where ever you want! So cool!

This is my April Nature Journal quilt (8 1/2" x 11") I made. You might not recognize it but it's tree bark (made with pleated/sewn fabric) couched with fuzzy fibers using my new best friend! I had lots of fun making this journal quilt.
So I got to see some of the family today! Amber and Nick are off school so we got to spend the entire day together. I did surprise my DIL by sitting in their living room early this a.m. much to her surprise. To make a long story short, Kris didn't know I was coming today so she took the day off and was a little shocked when she came down the stairs to see her MIL sitting drinking a cup of coffee! It was rather funny. It ended up being a great day and I got to visit with Kris and still spend time with the kids. Kris' grandma is in a nursing home so she was able to go and visit her without taking the kids. So all in all the day worked out just fine.

Kayla's quilt

Well, I made great progress on Kayla's quilt the past two days. After taking Ricky Tims seminar in Florida, I just had to try some of his techniques. I didn't want Kayla's quilt to look like something for the wall so I tweaked my pattern somewhat. This first picture is the pattern I made up for the 'strip' part.
You start with making a swirl pattern then cut it up. Well, you know that's just what we quilters do. Buy fabric and then cut it up! Anyway, the next picture is the pattern pieces being sewn together.

After all the pieces are sewn together, you square up the piece then cut it into strips. I cut mine into 2" strips. I took the 'convergence' (purple) fabric and cut it into different size pieces, starting with 1" strips and ending up with a 5" strip for the ends (you need two of each of these strips so I had 12 purple strips). Here they are ready to sew together.
After they were sewn together, I made a 'swirl' pattern for 3 sides; added 1/4" inside border; a larger outside border and done! It looks a little distorted, but I was STANDING on my moving sewing chair while taking this picture of the quilt laying on the floor! I'm going to add some squiggly, circlely (are these really words!) to the piece then I'll be ready to quilt! YEA! I've actually had lots of fun working on this for Kayla's graduation. Sure hope she likes it!!
I have to order batting so I might put this project aside for a week or two. I want to start on page three of my Art Diary which is working with metal, based on the book by Ann Parr, 'The Art of Stitching on Metal'. I played with some metal in Florida on my Klimt piece and I was trying to discolor some pieces using Balsamic vinegar but that's another blog entry! So another good day to work on projects. I finally get to see the kids tomorrow! YEA! With both of us still sick, we were afraid to be around anyone. I think last night was the first night neither Bob nor I coughed in the night!

April Snow - Bring it on!

This is what we woke up this this a.m.! We were expecting anywhere from 5" - 8" and I think we got it! That's ok! Bring it on! Just reinforces my plan to stay in Florida through April!
I'm making great progress on Kayla's quilt and I'll post pictures tomorrow.