Journal Quilt #26

Here it is....the half-way point for making journal quilts. YAY! I was at a loss for what to do this week so I pulled out a bunch of fabrics that already had fusible webbing on the back and just started playing. No, this isn't a self portrait. Now that I'm viewing this on screen, she almost seems like she's rather sickly looking. Oh well, I can honestly say it's not my best work....but it's just for fun.

More Egg Progress

I got more done on the egg today. The first photo shows the adding of transparent clay cane slices. I used several flower canes that I have made in the past. I got to thinking about how long ago I had made some of these canes, and I think some were made about two years ago. Can't believe they were still usable. But I keep them wrapped in plastic in a sealed container, and in a dark, cool space. So maybe that has prolonged their life.


The next photo shows after it was baked. I normally bake clay in a clay-dedicated toaster oven, but this egg was too big. Because it sat so high on the baking pan I couldn't get it in the oven. So I had to use my kitchen oven. I sealed a foil tent over and around the egg and baked it.


Now the next step is to sand it smooth and then polish it on the buffing wheel to bring out a nice shine.

Egg in Progress

I was going through some stuff in my studio today, and came across an egg that my sister-in-law had given me. If my memory serves me, it's a rhea egg. Someone she knew had given it to her and she gently opened it on one end, removed the contents and saved it for me. I used to decorate chicken eggs with polymer clay and haven't done any of this type of work for a long time. In fact, I've recently been thinking of getting rid of all my clay stuff as I don't know if I'll ever do much with it anymore. But I couldn't get rid of the clay stuff without first doing something with that egg. Especially since SIL so kindly saved it for me.

Here is what I got done on it today. I'm showing it next to a chicken egg, so you can get an idea of the size. I've covered it with one layer of clay cane slices and blended them together. I used 5 different canes on this layer. I couldn't get a really good picture of this for some reason and so the colors don't look right to me. The colors range from pink, mauve, light purple, yellow, green and blue.

I'll be adding more layers of cane slices to this over the next few days. The next layers will be transparent layers so that the color from the first layer will still show.

All Done

Remember the painted flowers I showed in yesterday's post? Well I've created a quilted wallhanging with it.



I have put this up for sale on my website.

It's All Sue's Fault

Yes, she made me do it. Well, okay, not really. She inspired me, how's that? Sue was doing some felting the other day and that made me want to do some too. You can see what Sue did here. My pieces are still drying, and at this point I don't know what I will end up doing with them. I guess I should put my thinking cap on and come up with something.


And I also did this painting. I need to finish it off yet. Maybe in the next day or so.


It's been very warm and windy here in my neck of the woods. I've been staying indoors as much as possible. Hope everyone is having a great weekend. And thanks to all who have visited my blog and to those of you who have left comments, thanks so much, your words mean so much to me.

Journal Quilt #25

This week's quilt was inspired by a wall quilt pattern I saw in a quilting magazine. I don't normally work with this color pallete, as it's not my favorite. All of the fabrics except the background on this are from my scrap basket.

A New Handbag

A few posts back I showed you some fabric that I was weaving. Well here's what happened to it. I made this handbag. This bag was designed by Sue and the pattern will be available on the Fibre&Stitch website "free projects" page in mid July. Sue also made a version of this bag....see it here. Be sure to sign up for the Fibre&Stitch newsletter so you don't miss when this is added to the site.


And here's a little peek at what else I've been doing. I've got plans for these and I'm not going to tell you about any of it, because I'm not sure how well my vision will turn out....so you'll just have to hope it turns out, to see the results.

Wanna See Something Cool?

Visit Vicki's blog. Vicki was one of the lucky winners in May when I had my blog anniversary contest. She did a beautiful job with framing up the piece of art I sent her. Vicki, it looks awesome!

Another Puppy

I've done another one. Measures approximately 7.75" x 7.75". For sale on my website.

A question was asked in the comments of the previous post about how I do the fabric/paper backgrounds. I have an article on this very technique in the premier issue of Fibre&Stitch which will be available August 29...this is an earlier date than originally planned.

Journal Quilt #24

This week's journal quilt is based on a design I had drawn in my sketch book some time back. It is acrylic paint on a fabric/paper background.


Well I took Zoey to the vet today to get her stitches out. While there, the vet told me that the lab reports showed no signs of a serious problem. Thank goodness. We have to feed her a special prescription diet in order for her ph balance to be in control, so she won't keep getting urinary infections. And she's so happy, she doesn't have to wear the cone collar anymore. Yay!

Flower Painted Paper Quilts

I've finished them. I'm really happy with these. Sorry about the glare on the blue flower one, it was too big for the scanner so had to use the camera and the flash totally lit it up. Both of these are for sale on my web site. If you are interested, go have a look.



I posted this small quilt before, but just wanted to let you know I've put this one up for sale on my site also. See all of these quilts here.

Today's Project

What have I been up to lately? Well let me tell you. Remember the lime green dog I showed recently? Well I started doing some more paintings using that method. They are mostly flowers that I'm painting this time. Where's the pictures, you ask??? Well I'm not done yet, so you gotta wait. Na ne na ne na na!

Here's something else I started today. I'm cutting strips of fabric to make a woven piece. This will be used to create a handbag. You'll be able to read more about this particular handbag next month (July) when a free project will be posted on the Fibre&Stitch web site. Sign up for the newsletter so you don't miss it.


This next photo is one of the sun printed fabrics I showed you on Sunday. I've embellished it further and right now it is on it's way to a special friend.

Something New

I made another 6"x6" paper quilt. But this one I did different. Instead of fusing paper to my background to create the focal design, I painted the design. I really enjoyed doing it this way and I think I'll do some more. Oh yeah, and did you notice I did a dog and not a cat????? Very unlike me.

A Busy Day

Here's what I've been up to today:

• 4 loads of laundry


• Baked 2 loaves of banana bread


• Made a hot dish/casserole


• Put clean sheets on my bed


• and had a mini session of sun printing, results below.

Yesterday while out in my yard, I noticed a couple of things I could use for sun printing designs. The seed tops of some grass that had gotten really tall, and the seed pods from some ash trees. I will be doing some further embellishing on these sun printed fabrics. If you are interested in knowing my sun printing process and what I do with my fabrics after sun printing, please check out my article that will be in Issue 1 of Fibre&Stitch.

Now I'm taking a break and doing some sit down work on the computer. Since I'm home alone, with just my furry family to keep me company, I will probably go to the studio later and be creative (I hope). So, what have you been doing today?

Journal Quilt 23

This week's journal quilt was inspired by the work of Nellie Durand. Nellie has created a wonderful series of quilts that she calls The Lake Series. And she recently had some accepted in a gallery. Congrats Nellie!

My journal quilt is a far cry from the beautiful work that Nellie does. Thank you Nellie for the inspiration.


Late last night when I wasn't sleepy, I started on this little paper quilt. It's 6" x 6". I didn't do any decorative stitching on this one. The only stitching is around the outside edge.


Thanks everyone, also, for your lovely comments in the last post, and well, all posts. Zoey had a better day yesterday, she wasn't trying to attack her incision area as much, so maybe she'll leave the remaining stitches alone. I let her have more freedom from the cone collar and boy, did she love that. She bathed herself really good and even played a little.

I'm Still Here

In case anyone was worried or wondering. Or.....maybe not. Anyway, I've had a busy week. On Monday, my kitty, Zoey, had surgery. An exploratory type of her bladder. She's been having recurring bladder infections and nothing is helping them. The vet thought maybe she had a bladder stone. No stones. They sent a biopsy of her bladder to a lab. My poor girl is not liking this. She has to wear a collar so she can't chew on her stitches, she hates that! She's actually gotten two stitches out already. Look at that shaved belly...and doesn't it look like she doesn't have a head, really we aren't being cruel to her.


Hubby and I bought a new vacuum this week. My old one isn't broken, we just decided to get a second one so that I don't have to haul the one up and down the stairs. Do you see anyone peeking out from that vacuum box?


And yesterday I was able to get into the studio to create. I had been planning this fabric page in my head for quite a few days and finally decided how I was going to do it. This page is for Francoise. Her chosen theme is "writing systems, past and present". I chose to do a page about braille. Around the light colored square, I machine embroidered the word "braille" with some metallic tissue paper covering the background fabric. I then did some french knots for the braille word. I sure hope you like what I've made for you Francoise.

Journal Quilt 22

Here's my journal quilt for this week. I got this idea from a rubber stamp line that I like. You may have seen it too.


And I'm going to tease you with this sneak peek. It's a paper quilt that I've made. If you'd like to see and learn more about my paper quilting process, stay tuned for the September (premier) issue of Fibre&Stitch.