Some new projects

 'Idle hands are the devils workshop'...or something like that!  I have to keep my hands busy that's for sure!  Now that "Georgia" is finished I feel lost!  SO....
This was a piece of white fabric that I screen printed a few years ago (using thickened dyes). Last year I made a small quilt (12"x12") for SAQA's online auction and I had found this piece left over.  You can see my original piece here, which by the way was purchased by my blog bud, Sally! 
I love the colors in this piece and thought it would make a great fiber post card.  So off to stitching I went!  In this pic you can see I started adding some beads and flat sequins (bottom right). 

 And above is my finished piece.  I had a small circle leftover from the original piece so I hand stitched it on the card as well.  I'm quite pleased with how it came out.  Hubby really liked this one.  He must be getting mellow in his 'latter' years!  He usually doesn't like 'things' that don't  look like something he can recognize.

So now that I don't have any more hand work, while I'm waiting for some Tila beads to come (more on that project later!), I played with some designs on this patchwork piece I put together back in May.  This was an effort in using up scrap pieces (another video lesson by Linda Kemshall).  I had already basted in the ditch just to hold the piece together as I knew I wanted to do hand stitching  and maybe some fusing. 

I took a piece of tracing paper, grabbed some plates and lids from the kitchen and off I went!  This is the design I'd like to stitch in repeats around the entire piece.  I also plan on filling in the areas of the circles with stab stitching.

Tonight, Kalee and I sat out on the deck and I started looking in my box of threads for the right colors.  I did find a nice lime green which looks good on the purple. I only stitched two of the circle areas, which are part of the large red circle above.

Only problem, I dont' have much of the lime thread left so it's off to JoAnn's tomorrow.  Amber has basketball camp so I'll drag Nick with me after we drop Amber off.  He likes to look at the model kits they have...he has an upcoming BD in Sept.  I'm taking the piece with me as I don't have the right shade of maroon.  That's a piece of hand dyed maroon and I know I can't dye threads to match it again. 

So enough for tonight...off to watch Olympics!  I love watching either winter or summer events!  Beats some of the dumb shows on the old boob tube!

Dreaming of Georgia O'Keeffe

Dreaming of Georgia O'Keeffe in Fabric

Back in January of 2011, I started making this stained glass piece using the reverse applique method my friend, Susan, developed.  You can see the 1st one I started here and some of Susan's technique (but we don't share all of it!).  I want Susan to send in her method to one of the quilter magazines.  I might try to work on her while in Florida this winter!

Anyway,  I don't remember now if it was before or after we got home from Florida but I wasn't happy with my workmanship so I redid the entire piece (yes, I still have my first piece!).  Hence, it's taken me quite sometime to finish this piece.  I think it's one of the longest pieces I've worked on...but I didn't work on it for several months at a time so guess that accounts for part of the time.  It measures 16" X 20" and it's for our Masters exhibit the Aussome Fiber group I belong to has ongoing.  Our next artist is Peter Max!  That should be a hoot...but the nice part of this exhibit is you don't have to do a particular artist.  If fact, you don't have to do any if you don't want to! 

For my George piece, I used an actual stained glass piece by Valerie Keenen. Valerie did a beautiful stained glass piece titled 'Dreaming of Georgia O'Keeffe' which you can see here.  I emailed Valerie and asked if I could use her stained glass piece and replicate it for our exhibit. Valerie graciously gave me permission and I'm really excited for Valerie to see my finished piece. Gee...I wonder if she has any piece she's done of Peter Max! 

 Just some closeups of my hand stitching...at least you can see what took much of the time!  I am sad the piece is finished as I love hand work!  This piece was so relaxing to work on and using Susan's method made it easy to put down for a time then pick back up when I had a few minutes. 

I would like to use Susan's method again for another piece...perhaps for 'Peter'!!  Thanks again Susan!!  You are a great teacher!

Have to share...

This is way to cute not to share!  Tommy from Tommy the Material Girl posted this link on her blog.  Check it out!

"After you   type your   first   name   a card comes up with Sorry Sorry Sorry on it.

Just wait about 30 seconds. The words will turn white, then......." 

Just click here! 

Our 2nd Paddle Boat Day!

The weather started out yesterday not looking so good for our paddle boat ride but...out came the sun around 11:30 and radar showed storm north of us! 

So grandkids and I packed up our lunches, put Kalee in her kennel and off we went to Independence Oaks for the afternoon! 

We did the paddle boat last year for the first time and had a blast!  I did a post on it here.  So kids were anxious to go again.  No fishing this year, which did disappoint Amber a tad but she got over it quickly (thank goodness!).  The picture above is our 2nd boat we took out.  The first boat we each had peddles but on this neon one only those in the first row could peddle. 

The kids had fun sitting in the back and putting their feet in the water.  I didn't think we were going to make it back the 2nd time around!  The wind was really hitting us and it just felt like we weren't going anywhere!  Which at times we didn't!  Had to maneuver the boat to go with the current at times then swing around!  Geezz...who knew grandma was nautical! 

We did stop at the Nature Center but there was a school group so we couldn't go in.  Instead we walked along some of the trails that took us back to the car!  All in all a nice afternoon.  Although, my legs didn't think it was nice last night!  Advil to the rescue!

What talented and generous bloggers!

Look what I received in my mail box today! What talented and generous bloggers there are out there!

I have to admit I was so very careful in unwrapping this package!  I'm so impressed with how my 'gift' was wrapped!

Carefully, I undid the red yarn, allowed the adorable picture to fall along with the lace and this is what was inside! 

 It's an adorable thread catcher made by Sherry from Createology!  Sherry is a fiber artist, beader and general all around talented lady!  I've followed her blog for awhile now and enjoy seeing all the different fiber work she creates!   If you give Sherry some paper, fibers and stamps, she make something from them! 

Check out the detail with the cute button!

And only Sherry could find this adorable safety pin!!  The perfect touch to complete the thread catcher! 


THANK YOU again, Sherry!!!  So glad to call you one of my blogger friends!! 

Progress and food!

Just to prove I am working away on my Georgia piece...All of the purple/red areas are stitched.  I'm now working away on the white areas.  Next up is to decide how to stitch around the black border area.

I'm also going to add some more stitching in the blue 'stem' area.
I have enjoyed working on this piece from beginning to end.  And it all started with my very talented friend, Susan!!  The reverse applique method is a technique Susan developed and taught me.  It's more labor intensive from the so called traditional reverse applique technique but I think Susan's results are so much nicer.  As well as, the piece is so portable!  I started this two years ago!  This is my longest WIP I've had to date but it has held up so well...I almost hate to finish it as it's so relaxing to work on...guess I need to design another one!  Thanks for your guidance, my friend!



Yesterday I met my friend Carol T. for lunch.  We headed south to Great Lakes Mall to eat at a new restaurant called Stir Crazy Fresh Asian Grill.
The food was awesome!!  Carol and I each had a different dish so we could 'taste' a little of something new.

And for me friends who know I'm not a meat eater this will be a shock!  I ordered Mongolian Beef!  I know!!  It was delicious!!!

Carol ordered Teriyaki Chicken and Asian Salad below.

 All of the food was really good as was the service.  I would go back again in a heartbeat...although, I would take a jacket!  I know..hard to say with our 90 degree weather but it was 'cool' in the restaurant.

So after eating a great meal we had to "walk it off" so we headed out into the mall and guess what stored PULLED me in!  Yep, Chico's!  Actually, it was their outlet store and Carol and I shopped!  My other friend, Carol P. in Florida, is my normal Chico's shopping buddy but Carol T. and I do hit this store every so often!  All in all a fun day of eating and shopping and I made it home early enough to do some more sewing!

It is with a heavy heart to feel good with all the stories and tragedy from the shooting at the theatre...all we can do is say prayers for those passed and injured.  The majority of our world isn't made up of people like James Holmes...we need to remember that.  The world is good but there are always those bad folks who can make us forget that.

A Street in Ireland - Accepted in Houston

This is the group quilt I participated in this past spring and we've been juried in to the IQA show in Houston this fall!!  How about that!  Tommy from 'Tommy the Material Girl' coordinated last year and this year's entries.  This year's group piece is called A Street in Ireland and 10 of us participated.  (My piece is 7th from left/blue car and you can see detail here.)

Last year's group quilt was called To Market and there were 16 of us (mine is 2nd from left/top row). 

Back in 2008, our Aussome Fiber Group created Underwater Fantasy which was a color study done by six of us.  We did a random draw on selecting a color from the color wheel.  We could only use that color/shade along with black or white.  Mine is the blue colorway and it was tough to work only in one color!  But we were juried into Houston that year as well. 

r

Each of these 'slice group' quilts were fun to work on, one way or another!  Although, I have to say the color study was harder than the other two, at least for me!   So let's hope 3 is the charm, right!

Finishing up some projects

I made this fiber card for our friend, Joan, who lost her husband last week.  Back in May, I remember watching Vice Presiden Biden give a talk to military families.  He was talking to the families on the sacrifice they and their loved ones have made for our country.
  I was struck by one of his comments and I actually wrote down the saying.  You can read his speech here.  Mr. Biden was discussing the loss of his wife and daughter and he made this comment...

I printed this on Joan's card and it fits perfectly with our losing Jerry.  Bob and I have talked more about how happy of a person Jerry was and how we have a smile on our face thinking about him. 

I also finished two other projects and now I can  finish up some more and start some more!  Yippee!  Binding all done on these two pieces and they're in the mail!

And I finished this cuff on the loom. It too is in the mail!

I really like these magnetic clasps on the cuffs.  So now my loom is empty!  But I did pick up a magazine at JoAnn's yesterday.  It was a special edition on peyote patterns...I know one is calling my name!

Nothing is safe in this house!

OK, so Linda Kemshall is at it again...just tempting me to keep playing!  One of Linda's latest video's on her web site is call "Fractured Color".  Linda showed how to use the transfer dyes to obtain some really cool patterns. 
Back in 2009,  I did purchase some disperse powder dyes from Prochem and played.  My results were so..so and too crafty looking for me but I had fun playing.  Around that same time I did purchase Linda's book 'Color Moves' and played some more!  Again...ok results but nothing earth shattering...just fun playing. 
When I saw Linda's video on using the transfer dyes yesterday I couldn't wait to play again today!  Only problem was I didn't think I had any poly fabric...so before going to the Farmer's Market this a.m. I headed off to JoAnn Fabrics to buy some fabric.  They only had pink in the 65% poly/35cotton but that was fine.
When I got home, I painted some more papers in reds and blues (using the leftover mixed up dyes from 2009!).  Waiting for the papers to dry I checked in my dyeing fabric bin and found  some white poly/cotton fabric from 2009 and  guess what else I found!   THESE!

These are a pair of hubby's shorts that he 'outgrew'!  OK, so I'm thinking that's why they were in my dye bin!  You never know because Bob is always asking me to dye his golf shirts, towels and socks, etc...I'd like to think these don't fit him anymore!
Anyway, I digress...Check out the label!  65% poly and 35% cotton!  So......

The missing leg is actually the first picture on my blog!   I cut into those shorts and took that piece of fabric and played!  Pretty cool, huh!  Nothing is safe in our house for sure! 
Next, I took the pink poly fabric I bought today and played with transferring on it.

Of course I couldn't stop so I took the white poly and used some old, green, painted transfer papers that I painted in 2009!  These papers and dyes last forever!  Well, maybe not forever but for several years!  This is proof and my favorite of the pieces I did today.

The greens are really more vibrant than what shows in the picture and the yellow is lovely. 

This is a closeup...looks so like crystals doesn't it! 
This piece is about 40" long and about 14" wide.  I think it will make a great table runner. 

Well, I think I'll go scout my hubby's drawers to see what else I can find!!  You just never know!!!  I just hope there's more poly/cotton fabric!!  Just hope he's watching golf and doesn't notice me taking clothes from his drawers!

We've come a long way, baby!

One of my Florida quilting friends, Nancy, from Quilting Potpourri, made a comment about me becoming the new bag lady!  She's pretty much on track!  I've been watching the grand kids every Wed. since I retired in '99 (Amber was about 8 weeks old when I started this routine).  Well, each week I would load up the bag above with my grandma things!  It's a far cry from the bags I'm making now isn't it!  I just stopped using this bag about a year or so ago!  It's been good to me through the years and has hauled lots of kid stuff as well!

Back in '83 I took my first quilting class in Holly, Michigan taught by Jan Parcell.  Mrs. Parcell was a delight and at that time was so organized in her class materials and presentation.  I still have both my folders from her basic quilt making and quilting II Intermediate classes!  She passed away in 2003 and I'm sure is/was missed by many in the area. 

I made my 'grandma' bag even before I was a grandma!  It was one of the first quilting projects I completed in Mrs. Parcell's class!  That bag was made using cardboard templates (from a cereal box I think!) and actually was the first machine stitched block project I did.  Mrs. Parcell had us do all hand stitching and hand quilting back then so a machine stitched project was out of the ordinary at that time.  

I still have my very first quilt all hand pieced, hand quilted and with a 1" wide binding!  Of course it's all in shades of browns and beige and a little worn. 

Where would we be as art quilters today without the Mrs. Parcell's in our past.  I'm so grateful for all Mrs. Parcell taught me and I'll keep the wonderful thoughts I have of her well as her class books until I'm no longer around. 

4-H Fair day again!

Today was our 10th 4-H fair!  I love taking the kids to the fair and today was just as much fun as the past 9 years!  We took two friends for Amber and Nick and they were delightful!  Emma and Alex were the best kids and I hop/think they enjoyed themselves.  This old grandma sure did just watching them!  So here's our day!  For those expecting art work...just go to your next blog...no artwork today!

First a visit to the rabbit barn

We did go by the 'market' aisle but everyone wanted to ignore that part!

Next up was the petting zoo!  Emma is on the right and preferred to 'pet' from a distance.

These little guys are from Australia

Emma and I were so intrigued by this little baby on its mom!

Off to the birthing barn.  Chicks were hatching

Emma and Amber checking out the newborn chicks

We felt so bad...cow was getting ready to birth her calf

We checked before we left and she still hadn't delivered.  Who would with everyone watching!

Next we went to the outdoor circus.  We've watched some of these kids grow up!  It's free and outstanding!

This little dog jumped from the top of that ladder into his owners arms!

This guy was amazing!

Yes, she is hanging by her hair!!!!!!

Hard to believe!

Lunchtime Amber and Emma

Nick and Alex

Nick and Alex

In their yellow shirts in the air

Amber and Emma

OMG, grandma...did you see what i just rode!

Amber and Emma

Video forthcoming!

 Kids were fearless when it came to this ride.  Someone dropped their cell phone and it crashed to the ground!

I thought Nick and Alex had tumbled over and over too many times...but they kept going on this ride too!

It was a great day and another wonderful memory for this old grandma!  Thanks for a great day kids!!!