Warts 'N' All

You probably knew where I was headed yesterday when I blogged the photos of the background below. It was begging for some animation, so this morning it got it:

I had originally thought I would entitle this piece "Denizons of the Deep", but then after spending quite a few hours beading these silly critters, "Warts 'N' All" seemed much more appropriate. It was fun, but I'm glad it's over.

I found that I could catch up on a few dvd's that I had been wanting to watch while I beaded...that was a treat. It felt rather decadent to be sitting there in my sewing room actually handsewing in the middle of the afternoon. I got to watch a lot of the Swedish cooking dvd by Tina Nordstrom that my cousin Eva sent me. It is terrific! I was pleasantly surprised to hear that it is thankfully in English, but the scenery is almost as much fun to view as the cooking. I hope I can find copies of the recipes at the website. Thanks again, Eva!!

Kristin and Dave had wrapped a recent gift for me in some lovely paper and I saved it because I thought that it might make a nice silk scarf. Here is my adaptation:

I just love all of the color! On a little more subdued note, I painted this one last evening. The combination of the turquoise, royal blue and chartreuse is rather refreshing in the summer heat, don't you think?

Both scarves were both done on silk crepe de chine, using DuPont dyes.

PEACE!!!!!

Going Round'N'Round'N

When our Kristin was a little girl, she used to call going around in circles "going round'n'round'n" and that's just how I felt today! I guess you can see why:

I've been quilting these little circles with Shimmer all afternoon. It's kind of addicting!! Of course I've also had on my NPR podcasts, so I've been entertained. Hopefully, I'll have a finished piece to show you in the next couple of days.

I was fooling around with this little guy over the weekend:

He's got a bit of spunk, don't you think? We have Leopard frogs who have taken up residency on our pool patio and they often show up in the pool. Last summer we had one who really taunted Barker. The frog would come up to the surface of the pool, swim around a bit and when Barker was really interested, the frog would dive deep to the bottom and swim to the other end of the pool. Barker really detests the water, so he would just run frantically from one side of the pool to the other watching the frog. It went on all morning, until C finally fished the darn frog out with the skimmer and threw him into the lake, where he really belonged. The next day, he was back in the pool...or perhaps it was his twin brother. Anyway, this little guy reminds me of our Leopard frogs.

On another whimsical note, here is a scarf that I painted yesterday:

I am in love with the new DuPont silk dyes that I have been using lately! They are so much fun!!!

PEACE!!!!

Sweet Revenge!

Yesterday afternoon I was sewing away when C called to me from the patio. It seems that our resident Great Blue Heron (whom we fondly refer to as Big Blue) had caught a snake and was in the process of preparing her midafternoon snack. I grabbed my camera and began snapping pics as quickly as I could. This is without the telephoto, mind you:

She had snatched up the snake and was literally swinging it around and snapping it in the air. I should have taken a video!

Quite amazing, isn't it?

Hope that snakes don't make you cringe like they do me!

Big Blue has finally killed the snake and is now putting it to rest in her tummy:

And just in case you were wondering how old Barker is doing since his Copperhead bites (yes, that darned snake got him twice that fateful day!), here's a photo of his recovery:




I wasn't real pleased with our mobile Vet's lack of concern and attentiveness in his treatment and management, so Barker and I took a trip up to see our old (as in former, she's not old!!) and much-loved Vet. She said that Barker should have had an IV infusion of steroids immediately after the snake bite, but she thought his skin was still going to heal fairly well. After cleaning up the wound, she put him on another round of antibiotics and also some steroid cream for his lesion. As you can see, much of the hair on his muzzle sloughed off, and he had a rather large scab. With many daily applications of the cream, the lesion has healed quite nicely. Barker went to the groomer on Thursday and she says she thinks his hair will grow back in nicely. It looks to be doing just that, and I am pleased. In the big scheme of things, his hair is not too terribly important. He is a wonderful doggie and I am so glad that he is alive and well! Thanks again for all of your caring comments!

PEACE!!!!

Birthday Booty Part Deux

So, what was inside those little mysterious packages from Eva and Bertil anyway??? Well, I'm here to show/tell you! This is the cutest little thing:

Here's a better view of it:

I love the little card on the right too! All of the windows on the Garden House are "open", so I think the idea is that I put one of the cappucinno votives inside the garden house and then it acts as a little decorative candle...perfect!! I love it!! Thank you dear Eva!!!

And to help along my Swedish cooking, here is a new dvd for me:

Eva and her mother Marie Louise are the the best cooks!!! YUMMMM! I love their recipes and although I haven't had time to get into this dvd yet, I know it will be fun and informative! Thank you again Eva and Bertil!

Speaking of dvds, last night, C and I watched this :

Sorry that the graphic isn't better, but I don't have time right now to fiddle around and look for another. Here are all of the facts on Rotten Tomatoes. If you're a good Republican, you probably won't like or agree with this documentary, but if not, rent it from Netflix or Blockbuster and see what our paranoid government was up to back in the 70s. It is just amazing!! So many memories were dredged up...I was a bit uncomfortable at times, but even though I knew how the movie would end (kind of like Titanic), I still cried for our loss.

On that note:

PEACE!!!

Birthday Booty

I know that you all are just dying to know about all of the goodies that were bestowed upon me during my most recent birthday celebration. Here are just a few:

This lovely creature is part of a virtual b'day card from my cyber friend, Nellie.

Nellie's card read:

"Dahling Judy, If you really and truly must have another birthday, please do so with fun and panache...and a little wine. I do believe you've had a good start by dyeing your fingers blue. Happy Birthday,

Nellie"

Isn't that cute?!!!!! I love it!!! Thanks Nellie!!!!

That arrived Monday morning while I was checking my emails at the condo. When we arrived "home" that afternoon, this was waiting for me in the mail:

It's a wonderful piece of Rayna Gillman's artwork from my good friend, Diane. She and I go waaaay back and she actually introduced me to Rayna and her work a few years back. It is only because of Diane that I took the great class from Rayna last October at John C. Campbell Folk School. Diane and Rayna, I love this piece and it will hang in my future "Wall of Fame"!!! Thank you so very much!!!!!

In today's mail arrived the long-awaited package from Sweden!!! YAY!!! My cousin Eva sends the most precious and thoughtful gifts!!!! Here are all of the things I got:

Actually, the package was chock full of gifts for Kristin and for C...her birthday in April, and his to come in July. As you may be able to see here, there are Capuccino scented votives, and huge IKEA shopping bag (which will come in handy at the condo!), two packages of Swedish style cocktail napkins (I love them when I am entertaining guests) and two wrapped "mystery gifts". I will reveal their contents to you when I next post!! Thank you Eva!!! and Bertil too!! I hope your package has finally arrived!!

"Poppy Reflections" is finally finished!! I need to thank Gerrie for her help with the stretcher bar mounting technique. It worked very well for this piece. I had painted this piece (well, with gutta and dyes) a couple of years ago and didn't know what to do with it. It sort of haunted me. Because of its orientation, I couldn't hang it as a quilted wallhanging (I don't think), and so it needed some help. After reading a lot on the QA list, I decided that mounting it on stretcher bars was the answer. However, Gerrie cautioned me that my silk might be too fragile for stretching....good point! Gerrie suggested duck fabric, which I found easily, and so I stretched it over the bars and then mounted the quilted silk piece onto the duck:

Here are a couple of closeups:

I'm really pleased with the way it came out. I've cut off the corners in most of these shots, but you get the idea.

And last but not least, here's Big Blue..........come to say hello this afternoon:

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew, I love my new camera!!!

PEACE !!!

Flowers and Fishermen

Sometimes I just feel like painting on silk....well, not painting with paint, but painting with dye. I don't know what the deal is, there are times when I just abhor it, and then other times it gives me such pleasure. So here is the crepe de chine scarf I did the other day:

It was a lot of fun, and C agreed that it was the best job I have done so far.

I'm having a great time with my new camera. C and my Mom were in cahoots on this deal. He bought me the camera for Mother's Day and then she bought me a telephoto lens for my birthday! WooHoo. Of course, there hasn't been much to see on the lake since the lens arrived yesterday, but hopefully I've got a little more time!! I did take this pic of my clematis:

Kristin gave me two clematis vines for Mother's Day several years ago, and they are just blooming their little heads off this year. I love them so!!

Here's some detail of the scarf that I "painted" yesterday:

There's a new shop in our little town and the shopowner wants to feature work by members of our local art league. So I brought her a few scarves today. She has a lovely wrought iron thingy that is very smooth, and she got it just for my scarves!!! So, I really had to bring some in for her, don't you think? I hope she does well, because her shop is cute and she is very nice.

And now for my last photo of the day:

I saw this young man (actually I didn't know if he was young or old, male or female at the time) out fishing on the lake and thought I'd get his pic with the telephoto. It wasn't until I put the photo on the computer that I realized he had a doggie on board!

PEACE!!

Celebratin' In Style

We got together with Kristin and Dave yesterday for a bit of an early birthday celebration. Kristin and I love to do the neighborhood home tours, and the South Atlanta Neighborhood Develpment held theirs this past weekend. Kristin and Dave's Ormewood Park is included in the SAND district, which was first developed in 1892. In the early 1900s, Mr. Orme, an official with the Atlanta Electric Light and Trolley Company, extended the trolley lines out from downtown Atlanta to the Old Civil War Soldiers' Home, which is actually just down the street a bit from K & D's home. This area continued to grow after WWI, with many craftsmen bungalows and Tudor-style brick homes being constructed. Those are the homes I am most interested in seeing, although there is much lovely new constrction also going on around them.

We began with this great home on Delaware, constructed in 1894 as a spec home! (I didn't know there were spec homes in 1894, did you?) The young couple who have lived there since 2003, have totally renovated the home, including the addition of a brand new kitchen. They have done a lovely job, maintaining the feel of a home over 100 years old. Note the trolley hanging on the porch, the symbol of the Ormewood Park neighborhood.


I love the roofline detail shown below:

This was another of my favorite homes, located on Woodland:

The kitchen has been renovated, but has the feel of that of one of my grandmother's kitchens! This Craftsman bungalow was built in 1922, converted to a duplex at some point during its life, and then returned to a single family dwelling by its present owners. They have done a wonderful job...and most of it by themselves!

The home below is truly incredible! The couple who presently own it and are still in the process of renovating it, didn't begin this daunting task until last year! It was constructed in the 1920s, converted to a triplex, and now is a single family residence.

After the tour, we settled on Kristin and Dave's front porch to enjoy the lovely evening and some wine and cheese, and then were off to this wonderful restaurant for Tapas:



I love going to the Carroll Street Cafe, in the heart of Cabbagetown, and was so please when I realized that this was the mysterious destination for my birthday dinner!!! We had Sesame Ahi Tuna, Escargots, and Tomato Mozarella Tapas, plus some sinful desserts, but if we don't mention them by name, the calories won't count, right?!!!

Kristin was having fun!

Actually, they both were, since they even let me snap their pictures!!

Thanks guys....it was a great day!!!

PEACE!!!!

What's Up?

Gerrie emailed me yesterday and said that there wasn't a spot for comments on my blog. I'm not sure what happened, but we'll see if it continues. I did go to my settings and reset the comment portion, and all seemed fine, but still there was no comment spot available. Hmmmmm.....and I just know how many of you want to leave comments!!! LOL

We've had a fine, fun day in the city. It began with a walk over to Trader Joe's to get some Greek style yogurt for my breakfast. It was 8:45, and as you all know (but we did not), TJs doesn't open until 9:00. So, we headed off to Piedmont Park to take in the Green Market. It was a lovely walk, with nice clean cool air (53) and no wind. We found some lovely succulent plants for our patio at the Urban Gardener's table. They also had this bumper sticker, which I have been coveting for several months now:

That will go nicely with my End This Endless War sticker, don't you think? Then we found our favorite Breadgarden lady and she lead us down the path to a bit of sinful eatery: C got a bear claw and I got a cheese danish...so much for the yogurt and granola breakfast!

We walked up to the High Museum to see the newest exhibit:

I'm so thrilled that the High is taking this on!!!

First we were mesmerized by the works of Annie Liebovitz:

What a great eye she has, and what an interesting story. Her family shots and those of Susan Santog are really quite moving. I'm so glad that this show will be here all summer, as I want to go back and see it at least one more time.

I was not prepared to enjoy the paintings of Cecilia Beaux as much as I did. I have always loved the works of the French Impressionists, but knew nothing of Miss Beaux. Another interesting story, and some beautiful pieces.

After a late lunch at my favorite MetroFresh, C dropped me of at the Chico's in Virginia Highlands, while he went off to run other errands....isn't he a dear? I had about an hour to entertain myself, and I did quite well!

I got these two tops, which I hope you can see, go very nicely together, but each can also hold its own alone beautifully. Chicos is featuring a lot of chocolate (or mahogany?) this summer, and that is a great color for me. The turquoise top is elaborately embroidered and beaded, which just adds to its charm. The chocolate top also has beads, but they are very subtle.

Somehow I also managed to come away with a lovely pair of chocolate gauchos that have a bit of white detail on them. It just so happens that I already have a great Chico's white sequined tank top that gets along famously with the pants and turq top! Look:

So after a light dinner, we are off to the Fox to take in Alison Krause's show! It's a fun, fun day!!! Hope your's is too!!!

PEACE!!!!

A Peaceful Kinda Guy

When we woke up this morning, Barker was no where to be found! We paniced a bit, because he is always the last to rise, sleeping soundly on his cozy little bed, right next to me, until the last gun is fired. We searched the house high and low, but couldn't find him, and then we walked into the garage and there he was at the rear of my car:

concentrating on the words on my bumper sticker. He's that kinda dog you know, very pensive, very peaceful. When will the rest of us learn from our animal friends? Why can't we all get along????? I was reading Thelma Smith's blog the other day, and she has a great link to a source for some wonderful bumper sticker's and tee shirts. Take a look, you, like I, may find several that you just can't live without!

Last year, I posted a picture of this crazy, crazy plant that "blooms" in my garden every Spring. It looks like a monstrous Jack-in-the-Pulpit, but I know that's not what it is. Actually, I once knew the name but I've forgotten. It arrived here as a bonus with a load of Spring flowering bulbs that I had ordered, and I thought it would be interesting to plant. It's quite extraordinary, and I actually look forward to its arrival in the garden:

That's a closeup of the "'blossom"...can you see the flies on it? It must be terribly sweet! Gerrie gave a guess at what it was, but the name didn't sound right to me. My friend Joanie also used to know what it was. Since she doesn't read my blog very faithfully, I'll email her the picture and see what she says. In the meantime, anyone who wants to venture a guess would be most welcome. Here's another shot of it:

I finished my Four Seasons Silk Fusion wallhangings, the first of which I posted a couple of days ago. I wasn't really happy with my "Spring" as it was pretty much a copy of Frieda's piece. So, I fiddled around in my sewing room and came up with this:


At first I had just the three leaves on there, and it was very dull, so then I added the stamped ferns. They weren't very distinctive, so I then stitched around them with gold holoshimmer. I like it now. Wish I had a better shot of it for you.

This is Fall:

I like it best. The leaves, as well as the background, are my own hand-dyed silk fusion. I attached the leaves with holoshimmer (it was on sale this week at Fiber On A Whim) and then needle painted leafless tree forms with more holoshimmer, some in copper and some in a variegated red, gold and blue.

And then there's Winter:

I freeform stitched the snowflakes in gold holoshimmer (what else?) and stitched down the gold leaf inclusions with the same thread.

While we were eating lunch today, a little red fox ran through the yard between our house and the lake. We were so surprised!!! When C first saw the bushy tail, he thought it was our neighbor's cat "Marmalade" but when he came into full view, we both gasped and realized it was not a cat but a fox! I've seen them before on our golf course, but never in our yard!!! YIKES!! I was glad that Sophie, our kitty cat, was inside!

I've finished beading "Poppy Refelctions" and will complete the quilting tomorrow. I'm seriously thinking of mounting it on some stretcher frames. There was a good reference to this technique on the QA List this week, but if anyone has any other suggestions on how to do it, please let me know. I'm all ears, as I've no experience with this. My one thought was to stretch a piece of dyed silk over the frame and then mount the finished quilted piece (maybe by tacking it?) onto the silk. Would that work???

Over the past couple of weeks I've gotten back into silk painting, and am finding a real love for it once more! This thrills me!!! I'm using some water soluble gutta from ProChem and some new (to me) silk dyes by DuPont. They are terrific and I am so thrilled that I have come across them in my reading. Maybe I'll have a pic of my latest piece for you tomorrow???

So, I guess this says it all:

If not:

PEACE

Just a Dyeing Fool

I was filling an order for a blue jacket the other day, happily mixing my dye and squishing the jacket around in my bucket, when whoooops, I felt the very sinking sensation of wetness on my right hand. Sure enough my lovely glove had sprung a leak and there I was wearing the telltale blue fingers!

Do you know how difficult it is for a righthanded person to take a pic of her right hand? I don't know how lefthanded folks operate cameras. I'm beginning to feel a bit more empathy! Well, the blue fingers wouldn't be so very bad except that I have to accompany (read drive) my Mom to a luncheon tomorrow. She is being honored for all of her hard work in Physical Therapy. Her therapist says that she is the agency's poster child, since she has begun walking again after a three year hiatus due to a compression fracture of her lumbar spine. Way to go Mom! This is no small fete due to her advanced years and her other medical complications. We are extremely proud of her, and I hate to embarrass her by wearing my blue fingers...maybe I should invest in a pair of white gloves for the occasion?

I enjoyed Frieda Anderson's seasonal article in the lastest Quilting Arts magazine, and decided to to a bit of a takeoff using silk fusion. I've dyed a few pieces and here are the results of Spring:

The colors here don't really do it justice, but it's the best I can do with the camera today. I think that I will leave the edges free form, as I love that aspect of silk fusion. I intend to work on the other three seasons this afternoon.

PEACE!