Time for Dandelions

The dandelion-themed quilts are starting to appear over on the Twelve by Twelve blog. I've posted my quilt and am also showing it here, with some detail photos.


I painted my main design on fabric and appliquéd it to the background. I made two large dandelion flowers from dyed Lutradur and then I added some fluffy fiber for their centers, which you can see better in the next photo.


I also free-motion stitched dandelion flowers in the upper background, which you can sort of make out in the next photo.


I've named my quilt Ferocious Dan. My design was inspired by watching my cats play outside. They sometimes remind me of little lions in the jungle.

Tomorrow I'll be on my way to Houston. I'm hoping to be able to post here a time or two while there. I'm very anxious as I'm meeting Sue, in the flesh, for the very first time and also some other bloggers as well. I'll be helping in the Mistyfuse booth at the quilt festival, so if you are going, I'd love for you to stop by and say 'hi'.

Journal Quilt #44

WHAT????? Another journal quilt so soon, you ask! Why yes! Tee hee. As some of you know, I'll be flying to Houston mid-week and will be gone until Monday. So I had to do this week's journal quilt early.

I was inspired to make this quilt after looking at a picture in Sherrill Kahn's book Creative Embellishments. In her photo, she uses this color combo and a vertical layout. But her project wasn't done on a base of fabric, it was done on a ceramic tile.

In other news...I belong to a group of 12 artists who are making art quilts in a 12" x 12" format based on a theme. Our first deadline is Nov. 1, right when I'm not at home. But the group has decided that we can display our quilts starting on Oct 30 and post anytime from then through Nov 2. So since I'll be leaving early am on the 31st, I'll probably be posting my finished quilt sometime on Tuesday. If you are interested in seeing the quilts, you can go here. Our first theme is dandelion.

I would like to also take this time and thank everyone who visits me here at StegArt. I very much appreciate your visits, comments, and even just browsing. I love hearing from you, so if you'd like to say 'hi', please do so.

Journal Quilt #43

This journal quilt was a free motion exercise. I had a hard time concentrating on it for some reason, so I know it is definitely not my best work.

On another note...I'm getting very very excited. In four days I fly to Houston! Maybe that's why I had trouble concentrating on the journal quilt above. Come to think of it, I've had trouble concentrating the last couple of days or so. Must be the anticipation.

Thoughts

"Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind." --Henry James

I read this quote today and am just enamored by it. It is my wish that everyone lives with this thought in mind. The leaves above are from my maple trees and I was so engrossed with the colors I had to get a scan of them.

Just for Fun

Since learning to knit again last December, I've been wanting to make myself some sweaters, but didn't want to start with a large project. So, I started small with this baby sweater. I definitely feel I need more practice with the knit clothing, but hey, you gotta start somewhere right? I have no idea how this will fit a baby and if it's even the size it said it would be on the pattern. I did a gauge check though...so it should be close.

And pictured below is another photo from my outdoor photo shoot this past week. This picture shows my gourd crop. The leaves are all shriveling and drying since we've had a few frosts. If I counted right, there are about 40 gourds there altogether. They are mostly birdhouse shaped and there are no guarantees that they'll all dry and cure and be usable in the future. By spring I'll know what I can keep and what will get tossed.

Journal Quilt #42

Happy weekend everyone! Here is this week's journal quilt. Gosh, I feel like I got it done early this week. Now I can play all weekend on other things. Every fall, I sort of get somewhat depressed as the greenery outside slowly turns brown and shrivels up and disappears. Fall has never been my favorite season and neither has winter. I think that is why I chose the colors I did for my journal quilt.

With my Houston trip coming up in 12 days, I think I'll get over this tiny bout of seasonal depression pretty quickly.

Also coming up next Wednesday (Oct 24) is my Daisy Doodles class at www.joggles.com. There's still time to sign up if you are interested in making a Daisy Doodle quilt. I'd love for you to join in.

One day this week, while outside, I snapped a few photos. This first one is a lovely view of my birch trees. We had a lot of dark gloomy days this week. But today we finally have some sunshine.


I normally have little feet following me around when I'm outside and Patty is always a great companion. She has gotten really good at showing me how well she can climb and every time we walk by some of the nesting boxes, she eagerly shows her skills. I couldn't resist taking a picture. And it even looks like she's licking her lips in anticipation of a little birdie snack. Oh no! Next spring I may have to devise some sort of baffle so she can't climb up there.

New Accessories

Some of you may recall I made myself a new handbag a while back. Well here are some accessories for it. Besides needing these new goodies for my new handbag, I also made them because Sue is teaching Sew It and Take It classes while in Houston in about three weeks and these are what she'll be teaching. I get to help her with her classes so I wanted to make these to familiarize myself with the patterns. The item on the left is a mini padfolio and holds a small notepad inside. The item on the right is a checkbook holder with a pen pocket.

Journal Quilt #41

For this week's journal quilt I played with a new toy. A tjanting. I had first seen Diane's results with this after she took a class and I thought it looked like fun. Diane kindly shared a few tips with me and I think I need more practice. The black paint I used spread out a bit too much for my liking and I'm thinking I maybe had it too thinned out. Below you can see my doodlings. I bought a set of three tjanting tools, each with different tip sizes. I used the medium here. I think I'll try the small tip next round. Hey, you never know, if I like this, maybe next I'll get some wax and try batiking.


I got two new books this week in the mail...Bags with Paper and Stitch by Isobel Hall. Wow is there some pretty great eye candy in this book. Also received Jamie Fingal's new and first book Embellished Mini-Quilts. Another wonderful book. Way to go Jamie!

So did any of you notice my new blog look? I felt a need for a change/remodel.

Button Button

Who's got the button? Why me, that's who. Vicki so generously sent me some buttons for my denim jacket. She actually sent me 3 different sets so that I could decide which I liked best. Vicki, you Button Babe, you! I liked the orangey ones the best, so put those on today. Thanks so much Vicki.


And here's a peek at some of what kept me busy last week. I will be teaching a gourd class online this winter, through joggles.com. These will be part of that lesson. I sort of felt like the mad scientist while creating some of these as I was trying out a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

Journal Quilt #40

Hey everyone! I've had a really busy week. Nothing much to show for it at this time though. As I'm writing this post, thinking about this being journal quilt number 40, I thought, Wow! only 12 more to go. I can't believe it. When I'm finished with the very last one for the year, I'm going to have to take all the journal quilts out and line them up, probably on the floor, and snap a photo of all of them together.

For this quilt I tried an inkjet printed transfer with gel medium. It was gooey, but fun. I then stamped on lots of other colors and at the end I free-motion stitched in some black lines on the girl.