Girls Night Out

Tonight, the 'fab five' (Carol, Judy, Karen, Mary and I) are meeting for dinner then off to see Mary's exhibit at the Buckham Gallery. I'm so excited to see all of Mary's pieces hung (as I'm sure the rest of the ladies are!). Mary took a trip out west this past spring and was so inspired by the work of Dale Chihuly that she started making quits to replicate some of his glass work. Mary's pieces are amazing! I've seen them up close but I know they'll just look spectacular hung all together in an exhibit. You can see more of Mary's work on her web site here.
Off to do some more sewing and painting fusible web for my fiber Valentine post cards. Still very cold and windy but no more snow, thank goodness!

Snow? Not yet

OK, so this isn't really a picture of the snow we got last night...but it is what the weather man predicted! HA The temp is now dropping so our rain is turning to freezing rain and we are suppose to get more snow tonight. We'll see if it happens or not.

So I'm still playing with doodling (along with knitting) at night. Last night I knitted and the night before made two more doodles...this one isn't quite right since the areas are a little off but gave me some ideas for what I want to do.

This is another one that I think could be perfected to something really nice..again, it's floral looking to me! Just needs some flowers to put in the 'basket'.

So I'm set on my BJP2010 and keeping with the 'art of nature' theme, size will be 8 1/2" x 11" and will combine zentangles/doodling along with the beading. I printed out this piece yesterday and it will be my January BJP. Not sure I'll get started on it here or in Florida but at least I have my first journal piece decided on.

Back in October I posted about a stamp I won (see post here) from Ruthie Powers. I love this little stamp and asked Ruthie if I could scan in and enlarge it. Ruthie agreed (as long as I'm not selling any works). So I did enlarge and scanned in, printed out and now I'm playing with her stamp for one of my BJP journal pieces. It's a cool stamp and between filling possibly with some 'doodling' and beading I think it will also make a cool journal piece. This one is a Florida project for sure.

So off to finish up my Christmas cards. Seems each year I get later and later in sending them out. When I worked, they were always mailed by Thanksgiving! Now that I'm retired it's not very high on my 'to do' list! Now if sewing was involved they would probably get finished quicker! Hmmmm Does that mean I need to make my cards next year? NOT!

Quilting and zentangles

I made some more zentangles and put them to fabric. These are some hearts that I did.

I traced the design on fabric and quilted it. It's really hard to do FMQ in such small areas. My piece is 8 1/2" x 11" but the inside of the hearts had to be quilted really tiny! I do small stitches but it just didn't feel comfortable..Plus, I don't do well following a line...straight or curved!

I'm auditioning for a fiber post card (inside the cut out area is a 4" x 6" window).

I also made up some 6" squares of a butterfly (for my BJP 2010). I think I'll just print on my fabric then do hand stitching and beading.

This is a flower and I think with the hand stitching and beading it will work out well.

So then I traced onto a 16" x 10" piece of fabric two heart designs. Funny the picture is clear in my Windows Gallery...you might have to click on it to see the design(s).

2nd design.

Then I sandwiched and FMQ'ed the piece. I'm actually thinking of rolling fabric paints on this to change the color. I'm just debating what color to make it. Interesting, I used two different pens to trace the pattern on with. The left is Pentel fine line liquid gel pen and the right side if Staples gel pen. Hmmmmmm

So that was my Sunday! Other than watching the Lions play..yes, they lost but at times they looked really good. They're a young team and I'm a supporter so I'll stay with them.

Biker boy!

This video is for Cody's mom and dad! Cody had on his 'biker' sweater when he went for a walk! Is he cute or what!

Back to Zentangles

Awhile back I posted (here) on Zentangles. It's a fancy word for doodling but quite a lot of fun. I've been doing a lot of machine work during the day on sewing projects that I can't show due to gifts. Hence, I decided at night I'd start doing some more Zentangles. In fact, I got the bright idea that perhaps for the BJP 2010, I'd do some sort of a quilted Zentangle and then fill in with beads. There are several quilt artists out there that are using a similar technique for their quilt work or journaling.
I did this one last night while watching reruns on TV. I wouldn't make this into a quilt but it was fun to kill time doing something!


This one I think is my inspiration for the BJP 2010 as the leaves are floral and I'd like to keep with the 'art of nature' theme. I'm thinking of doing a 6" Square with a circle inside and incorporate some type of nature in the circle for the doodling. I'm going to play with putting a flower in the center of a circle to see if it works. That's my TV work for tonight. Hopefully, I'll have some hand stitching to do on my projects by this weekend. If not, the doodling will work for me.

We did have our first 'official' snow fall early this a.m. Nothing to write home about but it was snow and it's still on our deck. Mandy and I had her day 'job' today at the school but due to Dr. apt. I was only able to stay for the 1st session. The kids are so cute and the stories they read are actually interesting! Of course, Mandy does fall asleep but I'm entertained.

So off to do research on some flowers that might be adaptable for doodling!

Friends

I woke at my usual time (3:30 a.m. - every morning...every day..not sure why!) and thought...I feel so guilty that I haven't talked to my friend Patti or sent her a card or went to visit her at the nursing home. I felt really, really bad...then I remembered....Patti is gone. It was like I was hearing the news of her death all over again....

So call a friend, email a friend, write to your friend TODAY! You never know when they won't be here anymore!

Shopping and reading!

No, this isn't me but it sure felt like me today! Christmas shopping! Whew! I actually ordered quite a few items online the past two days as well but still had to go out in the world of shoppers! Not fun..at least for me. I'm not a shopper...except! There's always an exception isn't there! When we are in Florida I have to admit my friend, Carol, and I do go shopping, lots! It's fun really and even if I don't buy anything I do admit that I have a good time. It's actually more fun to have Carol buy things...funny, this happened a few weeks ago, with my friend here in Michigan named Carol too. I helped her spend lots of money!

I was looking through some of my old digital photos trying to reorganize and thought I'd drop another in my post for today. This is a piece of sunprinting and stamping I did using Setacolor paints. I cut up the panels and inserted the pink fabric, which was also stamped with Setacolor.

If you look closely the pink leaf (there's more on the whole quilt) that looks fuzzy is actually some fabric tracing paper I dyed then stitched on during the free motion quilting part. I just ripped it away from the stitching to get the leaf appearance. The fabric tracing paper is just like an interfacing (heck, maybe it really is just that!) and dyes up great. I liked each of the panels and thought I'd just put them together in this offset manner. It actually hangs quite well which was a surprise. I thought for sure it wouldn't!

So now on the the latest good read I have found! I picked up a large print book the other day and I'm having a hard time putting it down! I'm reading it while watching TV at night! It's called 'the Outlander' by Gil Adamson. This is her first book but I'd highly recommend it. It takes place in 1903 and tells the story of a widow (only because she knocked off her husband! But in the beginning you just don't know why yet) and her trials and tribulations. A really interesting book I'd highly recommend. I'm almost finished listening to 'The Virgin of Small Plains' which is a mystery and again a good book. My friend, Mary, recommend this one to me and I'm on the last chapter now. Very good...yep, I have one more I'm listening to which is on a Play away from the library, called 'Left To Die'...another mystery and helps me on my walks and cleaning! I don't live in a fantasy world all the time! I did read 'Superfreakonomics ' which was REALLY an eye opener! So guess I'll go and read some more of the Outlander! Still no snow and it was 45 at one point today with lots of sun! I just know the snow and cold is coming.....ugh

Starting countdown!

Well, Dec.1st will be the start of our countdown for Florida! Christmas shopping, thinking of packing up, etc. Bob has an alarm system coming for the house so that will keep him busy for awhile!
In between cooking and cleaning and doing some quilting last week, I did play with lutradur, fabric crayons and disperse dyes.

I did a funky tree using fabric crayons on plain paper then painted on the disperse dye. After the dye dried, I transferred to the lutradur. It's a funky tree, as I said, but I think I can do something with this piece.


I did the same technique except made some hearts and again transferred to lutradur (this is the lightest weight).

This piece has two different transfers from using the disperse dye and crayon piece.

This piece I forgot what I was doing and I use the fabric crayons and started to do a rubbing on it! hmmmmm That's ok, I'll just use disperse dye transfer on top of it.

Yep, lost my head again and did rubbings with fabric crayons direct onto the lutradur. I like the intensity of the crayons and if I use a pastel or light hand on transferring the disperse dye, I think the piece will turn out quite nice.

Hopefully, I can take one of these pieces (funky tree??) and start on my BJP for January. I thought of keeping with the art of nature theme and the 'tree' would fit in?? I can see beading swirling around the tree. I need some hand work..although, I sliced (and I do mean sliced) my finger on my right hand over the weekend on my rotary cutter. I'm getting some super glue today to hold it together.

Also, we had 7 turkey in the yard today! We saw two the other day and that was the first for this winter. I'm sure the rest of them will be forth coming! Still no snow! Whew!

Another Thanksgiving!

What another great family time with had yesterday! Kids were in from Indiana along with dogs and it was so much fun!

Here's the 'watch dogs'! Ben, Cody and Mandy. They all got along SO well and are the best dogs around.

This is Cody and Gabe, Kayla's friend who came to visit. This is our 2nd meeting with Gabe and he's such a nice gentleman. Not such a good Monopoly Deal card player! But he was a good sport, so we let him win one hand! This card game is so much fun! A lot quicker then Monopoly. actually Ian, Kayla, MaryJo and myself (along with Gabe) each ended up winning a hand.

We combined Thanksgiving with a surprise 'pre' BD party for Bob. He turns 70 this Dec. 18th and I thought since kids were in town I'd invite Diane and Don (Bob's daughter & hubby) to join us for dinner. Just another surprise for Bob as he didn't know I invited them. Kids decorated the dining area before dinner.

Ian, Kayla and Gabe doing the honors.

This was Ian's first time at tying balloons! We had a balloon tying session. The green balloon behind him has writing on it stating this was his 1st tied balloon. Ian is getting so tall! He's taller then I am!!

This was Grandpa coming up into the kitchen area! He was a bit surprised and didn't know what all the decorations were about! Yes, I got a lecture afterwards but it was worth it to have both his son and daughter and families together for a change.

And a carrot cake for the birthday boy!

We were downstairs having dessert. Not sure what he wished for but it won't be heading to Florida early...although that's what he said he was wishing for!

So that was our day and it truly was great to spend this week with family. I did miss seeing Dawn and Jeff as they went to Jeff's family for Thanksgiving but they did cook dinner for me this past date night so I got to spend time with them.

I am so thankful for the family and friends I have.

Another Thanksgiving Dinner!

The kids drove in from Indiana on Wed. and will be here today for our Thanksgiving meal! We're looking forward to the time with them and Kayla is home from college so it will be good to hear all about school. Ian will play pool most of the time and might even beat Grandpa once in a while!

So here's an interesting video to watch. This is art for sure! I'm off to do some more cooking!

What a Thanksgiving!

Nothing quilt related today on this post...just family stuff. It is after all my journal so every once in awhile it will be all about family!

Well, our Kris outdid herself again! She really should be on Martha Stewart or have her own show. Kris is a WONDERFUL hostess and pictures don't do her justice on how she prepares the house for her guests and family! This is just one seating area Kris had set up for dinner. She and Amber made everyone their own place card. You can just about see the little turkey on the plate that had each of our names on it. Just another nice touch. Amber knew where everyone was sitting and it made it nice to fill up drinks! This was another table set up. Starting with Amber peaking out of the corner (left), Katie, Kim (Kris' sister), Kim's husband Tom and their daughter, Lilly. I never could get a picture of Nick or Amber without them moving. But Amber does have a nice smile on her! Kris is in the background working away!

And this is Ginny and her friend, Mike. A nice young man and it was good he was able to join the family for dinner. Ginny was the 'live in nanny' this past summer replacing Katie from the year before. We had fun both years and I hope Ginny will be a 'nanny' again this summer! I'll have to come up with some new, exciting things to do on Wed.!

Just one picture of some of the food! I think there were two turkey's as Kris' mom, Nancy made a turkey too. Nancy is a good cook as well so Kris gets it from her for sure. Everyone (women!) brought something to add to the dinner. So many choices!

This is Wesley, Kris' nephew. Nick is hiding in the left hand corner! He's usually pretty good about getting his picture taken but not today! That's OK, I still got a shot of his head!

And of course we had to have dessert! There was chocolate cake (made by Nancy!), sweet potato pie (by Lisa), pumpkin squares (I'm assuming Nancy), lemon pie (me), pumpkin pie (me) and a trifle (I think by Kris??) but I didn't get a picture of it. I was too busy eating!

It was a very nice Thanksgiving with family, friends and of course food! Again, thank you Kris (& Darrin!) for another wonderful meal. Kris, you certainly put forth so much effort to make each get together the best for everyone!! You are a sweetheart!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING ONE AND ALL!

I couldn't resist this little guy! One day he might be on someones table! I just hope it not ours! Enjoy your day with family and friends.

Transfers & fiber cards

I'm off to meet a friend for coffee/breakfast...but thought I'd post two transfer fiber cards I mad this weekend. I printed pictures on tissue paper then embellished and finished.

I took a photo of some quilting I did as a sample piece. Then I printed the picture on the tissue paper and fused to a piece of background quilting I already had sandwiched. I quilted it and then added some fabric paints to some areas as well as french knots.

This one was a picture Dawn took at Belle Isle. Again, I just printed on tissue paper and fused to a sandwiched piece. I did some free motion quilting then added french knots in the middle.

I really have to get better at taking pictures. My work always seems distored and I know they are square (ok, rectangles) but they never appear that way. Great...another hobby to get into - photography! No, wait...that's what my daughter does. Guess I'll just have to have her take all my pictures for me. I'm off to eat and talk! Until tomorrow........

Beading, beading and more beading!

Most of my fiber friends know I'm crazy about beading and enjoy every moment that I do bead. Lately, I've been working on beading my Frankenthaler (for the Inspired by the Masters exhibit). This is one of Helen Franenthaler's paintings that inspired me to create my Frankenthaler quilt.

I finally finished beading the bugger! It's 16" x 20" and has LOTS of bugle beads in it.

I was getting bored with just bugles and it just so happened one of my favorite beaders, Margaret Ball, posted on her blog directions for beading 'lacy looped fringe'. I thought, heck, I'll use it in my Frankenthaler! You'll have to click on the picture to see the beading closeup.

The green fringe beading included bugle beads in addition to the seed beads and I followed Margaret's directions for adding several loops. I alternated between 2 and 4 bugles then added the seed beads as loops.

The blue was again replacing the seed beads with bugles but keeping the seed beads for the bottom loop. I like the different embellishment this pattern gave to the piece rather then just having all bugle beads staggered throughout the piece. Thanks, Margaret for sharing another technique! Can't wait for her next book to come out! I reference her book 'Embeadery' often and it travels to Florida with me every year!

I also had finished this lace scarf a few weeks ago and I added some beading for fringe. I only had a few of the pink seed beads left so I used Margaret's directions and added some of the lacy loop fringe until I ran out! I think it adds a little something to the small amount of fringe I did have.

So now to work on some more of my fiber Valentine post cards. I did make two fiber cards yesterday but I have to finish the edges on them, then I'll post pics. I was playing with printing on tissue paper. Actually, it's tissue paper that was in a gift bag Carolyn gave us on Friday at the Guild workshop. "Waste not, want not" Grandma always said!

Better picture!

Here's a better picture of the raffle quilt on our bed! Perfect for Christmas! Yes, I'm still excited about the 'win'!!

Just my lucky week I guess!

I WON!!! I WON!!! Yep, I won the GSQ raffle quilt!! Isn't it great! It's all hand appliqued and machine quilted. I wanted to get a quick picture and didn't know where to hang it so I just laid on top of our bedspread. I think it looks so nice so I'm going to get my green pillows out and use it as a spread for the holidays. It's also traveling with us to Florida to be shown to my friends there! Thanks Shirley for drawing my name!!! And thanks Mary for giving me the brown paper bag when I started to hyperventilate! (Only kidding...I just felt like I was).



Just a few closeups of the blocks....

Just beautiful....

I'm not a traditional quilter by any means but I certainly do appreciate traditional work. I do so love this quilt.

So at the guild meeting in the afternoon, four of us put on a 90 minute workshop. Mine was using Shiva Paintstiks. I think the ladies did a great job! It's hard to cram a full day class into 90 minutes but they did it! I had 13 in the workshop but I didn't get pics of each of their work, darn! But here are some pictures I did get.

Check out the landscape Wilma did! This was using a strip of paper for the edging.

We did 'masking' first to get them used to working with the paintstiks. This was Evelyn P's piece.

Evelyn B. used one of my hand carved stamps and the stencil brush rather then the paintstik direct on the fabric! I think the colors are beautiful and very subtle. Each print could be used to make a fiber postcard just by adding a border. I love this effect.

Maryanne did a rubbing using another one of my hand carved stamps and some larger leaf store bought stamps I had. You really can get a great textured look with the rubbings.

Maryanne was busy! This was her 'masking' piece then she laid a place mat under her painted piece and did the rubbing. Pretty cool!

I think this is by Lillian. She just used the paintstik direct on the rubbing but she kept moving the rubbing at angles. Nice effect isn't it! The blue paintstik really stood out.

Diane used another one of my hand carved stamps. Maze and blue!! Go Blue!! I love these colors together. Nice contrast and rich looking.

Amy did a really nice masked piece but I didn't get a picture of it. Then she got out her black fabric! I didn't get a picture of her finished black piece but it was amazing!! Amy did rubbings with some other leaves and a rubbing plate. It will make a very nice small quilt for her. She gave me a great idea for a quilt using the black and white! Remember, Amy, 15 minutes!! Just for you!

Vera's piece came out great I thought! I love her colors and the blending she's doing. Almost looks painterly (hmmmm is that really a word??).

Holly did rubbings with the cardboard cup holder from Starbucks coffee (I save these like crazy! They're great for using in scrapbooking or cardmaking as well!). She also did a rubbing with a larger stamp and a rubbing plate. Didn't she blend the colors well on the leaf!

Wilma got really creative didn't she! I love this piece as well! She used a mixture of items to create this one of a kind piece of fabric.

And last but certainly far from least is my buddy, Carolyn! This was her masking piece. After she did the masking and coloring with painstiks she then covered the painted areas and applied a new color to fill in using a rubbing plate.

Here's her finished piece. She also added some stenciling using the torn paper. I think it turned out great! These are my colors!

Carolyn is the program chair for the guild and she does a bang up job!! She's so organized and works so well with professional teachers and 'little' folks like myself. She organized the four workshops today and had something for everyone. The guild would surely miss all the effort she puts forth to keep the programs interesting and appealing to all. THANK YOU, Carolyn!!

And thank you ladies for a great afternoon! Hope you all had as much fun as I did!