Fabulous Friday

While C and I were taking a little stroll with Barker, I came across this lovely heart pendant lying on the sidewalk


I am sorry that someone lost it, but I am so happy that I found it and it wasn't crushed to smithereens! (I wonder about that word, smithereens........where in the world did it come from?)

Anna has gotten me totally addicted to Zentangles. I sat down this morning and spent about a half hour semi meditating and creating this one:


The weather has turned cold again..........and it is so windy!! BRRRRRR! We ran some errands this afternoon, and C dropped me off here for about a half hour of fiber bliss:


I just had to include the above shot so that you could enjoy the "Kong's Body Shop" sign! It always gives us a laugh.

But seriously, I spent 30 minutes in heaven, just fondling the fiber, admiring the fabulous trims, and checking out the incredible buttons!



If you are still basking in the wonderment of last week's Inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama, you may want to go here for further enjoyment.

YES WE DID!

Closest book to you

I got this from Anna's blog:

Closest book to you

How to play:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence along with these instructions in a note in your BLOG.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual... Use the CLOSEST


"The last steps in the process, hand quilting and embroidery, allow me to become physically reacquainted with a piece created at arm's length on the wall, and to add another visual dimension to it."

Actually, this is the 4th sentence, because there is no 5th sentence. The book: "Art Quilts A Celebration 400 Stunning Contemporary Quilts". Page 56 features "Float" by Elizabeth A. Busch of Glenburn, Maine.

YES WE DID!!!!

Footprints

For more than 30 years, C and I have been big club soda drinkers....and my preference is for absolutely no flavoring, be it scotch or lemon! We were buying dozens of bottles a week, and I was drinking it with every meal, and often in the evenings after dinner. This is simply charged water with no added sodium, so for my health's sake, it was fine. But I began to think about all of the extra plastic I was adding to the earth. "Back in the good old days" C and I had a couple of those soda bottles that you screwed a little co2 cartidge onto and phssssssssssst, you had soda. So we looked into and purchased the 2009 version:


We picked up our new 'machine' on Saturday and I must tell you that I am really pleased with it: it is easy to use and produces a good little charge to the water. It comes with the charged bottle of co2 (which is attached to the back, so you can't see it in this picture), the 'soda maker', and two bottles for carbonating. We use the cold, filtered water out of our refrigerator tap, then screw it into the soda maker, press the button on the top, and within a minute, you have charged water. You can read all about it here. Oh, and we are in no way affiliated with this company...we just like the product and are thrilled that we are no longer having to purchase and then recycle a gazillion bottles of plastic each week.

These little lovelies arrived in the mail from my blogger buddy Elizabeth this week:

and what do you suppose I am going to do with them??????
Any guesses??????

YES WE CAN!!!

The Envelope Please

The most recent edition of the American Quilters' Society magazine had a short article on various ways to recycle Tyvek envelopes. While I've played with them a little bit in the past, I thought I'd give the technique another go round this week. So, yesterday afternoon I slathered some Lumiere paints on the inside of an old envelope and then left it out in my studio to dry.



I had a little bit of free time this afternoon, so I grabbed my heat gun, and a couple of bamboo skewers and set out to make some tyvek beads.

It really doesn't take much to amuse me!

In about a half hour, I had used up the entire envelope and produced this motley crew:

I hope that by the end of the week I will have put these beads to good use and can show you a semi finished project..........but don't hold your breath!!

YES WE CAN!!!!

Interrupted Service

Dear World:

We, the United States of America , your top-quality supplier of the ideals of liberty and democracy, would like to apologize for our 2001-2008 interruption in service. The technical fault that led to this eight-year service outage has been located, and the software responsible was replaced November 4. Early tests of the newly installed program indicate that we are now operating correctly, and we expect it to be fully functional on January 20. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the outage. We look forward to resuming full service and hope to improve in years to come. We thank you for your patience and understanding,


Sincerely,
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

I've received the above email from several friends over the past few days, and thought I'd share it with you all, just in case you haven't seen it. It pretty much says it all, don't you agree?

YES, WE CAN!!!

The Gift of Friendship

I was so tickled to arrive home this afternoon and find a package in the mail from Germany!!! Eva, one of my blogging buddies sent me this absolutely fantastic painting, Pink Bridge:

A few weeks ago, I was reading the latest Piecework magazine and there was a very interesting article about the knitting in Tallinn, Estonia by Nancy Bush. It was extremely interesting to me because: (1) I knew that Eva was from Tallinn, and (2) I was knitting a pair of socks designed by Nancy Bush. Later that day, I went to Eva's blog and there she was showing a lovely pin cushion that she had been embroidering. We emailed about this happy coincidence, during which she told me that she couldn't get Piecework on line, so I copied the article and sent it to her. It was pretty much an effortless task, and look at what I now can cherish!! Thank you so much Eva!! It is even more wonderful than it appears here! Please tell everyone about it.

Two more gifts from a dear friend:



My friend Polly traveled to Africa several years ago and has shared many of her experiences with me. I had hoped to accompany our Rector and his wife a month ago when they went to Tanzania to visit their daughter Sarah, but then those plans fell through for various and sundry reasons. Polly knew how disappointed I was, because I had really wanted to spend countless hours in the markets inspecting beads and fabric. So, a few weeks ago, she gifted me with the above beautiful fiber cards that she had purchased while she was in Kenya. I was just bowled over!! The technique used to produce these cards appears to be very similar to that which was used in the making of the fabric I showed you in my last post. Since the two countries are quite close to one another, I am thinking that the natives employ similar techniques. Does anyone know more about this? If so, please share with us.

YES WE CAN!

Out of Africa

My friend Sarah, who just happens to be our Rector's daughter, is in Tanzania, Africa this year, serving as a missionary. When she graduated from the University of Georgia last Spring, she decided she wanted to do something different for a while before she began a real adult kind of job. I think it's been a wonderful experience for her, and I live rather vicariously through her blog posts and emails, in which she attaches lots and lots of the most fabulous pictures. Her parents visited with her for two weeks just after Christmas and had a marvelous time. I had hoped to go along, but, sadly, things just didn't work out for me. When our Rector and his wife returned, they brought me this wonderful fabric:


I think it must be mud cloth, but I'm not sure. Does anybody know? There must be 3-4 yards of it, and it is very wide, so I am hoping to make at least a long skirt from it, and perhaps a jacket, and if yardage permits, some slacks. I just love it! They gave it to me last night at our parish's Wednesday night dinner. Claude, a friend seated at our table, grabbed his napkin and pen and immediately sketched out this wonderful giraffe!

Here is one of the pictures that Sarah has sent me of women in Tanzania. I was very attracted to the wonderfully colorful fabric in their skirts:


OK, now I need to do a bit of 'housekeeping' here:
My Swedish Cousin Eva awarded me with a blogger friendship award a few days ago. Now I am feeling rather awkward and badly as I had decided a while back that I would no longer accept any of these awards, but I had never stated that on my blog. While it's always an honor to receive such accolades, I often feel badly in having to single out just a few of the wonderful bloggers who entertain me on a daily basis. So, Eva, at the risk of hurting your feelings, I want to thank you and let you know how much I appreciate this, and also extend the award to each and every person who reads this post.

At the same time, I want to announce that I'm no longer participating in these awards. Thank you, thank you, thank you....but enough!

I've borrowed the above award from my German blogger friend Eva (yes, another Eva!), and she states that anyone may use it.

Speaking of blogs that I read, I came across this great quote on Lesley Riley's blog this morning:

I get up every morning determined both to change the world
and have one hell of a good time.
Sometimes, this makes planning the day difficult.

E.B. White

YES WE CAN!

Day One: Oh What a Day!!!

If you'd like to make your own Shepard Fairey poster, go here. Try it, you'll like it!

What a day, huh? Pretty darned cool! We were invited to an Inauguration Day Party, but I had to go solo....it's Tuesday and C feeds the homeless every Tuesday!! I think President Obama would definitely approve.

Durwood and Jim's home was all decked out with red white and blue bunting and balloons! It was so festive!

I was very glad to witness this most historic Inauguration amongst friends....shedding tears, applauding, laughing, and repeating Amen time and time again! I will never forget this day!

Durwood and Jim Tivo'd the entire Inauguration and then played it back so that we could each have our picture taken with the First Couple as our 44th President took the oath of office. Here is Durwood doing his part, holding two prayer books:


Truthout has a Liberation Day 'your blog' where you can leave your comments about our new and improved administration. Go here to do so.

HOPE
CHANGE

PEACE

ZERO ZOT NONE!!!!

Can you believe the excitement in the air? I've had the TV on most of the afternoon and have really been enjoying watching the Washington inaugural scene. Can this really be happening here? WooHoo!!! I was struck with something that Maureen Dowd said, and I will paraphrase her here: we Americans feel that our President and his or her ideals represent us all and our ideals. For eight long years I have not only been unable to identify with George W. Bush, but I have been embarrassed and angered by him and his actions. I didn't want people all around the world to think that he embodied real American values. I love Barack Obama and all that he represents.

Yes, World: Barack Obama is US!!!!

While we were in Fort Worth last Fall, I came across a marvelous book and fell in love with Alabama Chanin, their use of recycled t-shirts, and their totally hand stitched items. C gave me the Alabama Stitch Book for Christmas and I've been having a ball reading and learning their techniques. Rather than using one of Alabama Chanin's stencils, I chose my own gingko leaves, and I dyed two of C's old tees. Alabama Chanin doesn't have a purse pattern, so I kind of winged that too:


It's completely hand stitched, which I found really relaxing and fun.

I've collected buttons for years, and Mother of Pearl are my favorite, so I decided to use three on my first purse



I used a lot of the zig zag chain stitch, recommended in the stitch book for seams that will be stressed, as this particular stitch is meant to give and stretch. Since I will use this purse a lot, I don't want the seams popping!

Here are just a few of my gazillion buttons:

THREE CHEERS FOR THE U.S.A.
THREE CHEERS FOR THE WORLD
WE ARE ON AN AMAZING JOURNEY TOGETHER!!!

PEACE ON EARTH!!!

ONE....Only ONE MORE!!!

I never thought I'd live to see the day when I could say that there was only ONE more day in George W. Bush's administration! WooHoo!!!

This is a piece that I began almost two years ago in Pamela Allen's Fiber Collage workshop:

It was at the bottom of my workbasket, and I have been peeking at it just about every evening lately, thinking that I really needed to get back to it. It is all handwork, which along with knitting, I find to be very relaxing in the evenings. C and I love to watch a movie or documentary, courtesy of NetFlix and Roku, after dinner, and handwork keeps me busy and out of the snacks!

As you can see above, it is taller than it is wide, and I am wondering if it would be of any benefit to make it more square than rectangular. What do you think? More like this:

This morning, I was looking at some quilt fabrics on equilter and came across this piece designed by Mark Lipinski. Looks quite similar to my piece, doesn't it??

PEACE

I've just realized, somebody has stolen Blogger's fonts!!! ;-(

TWO!!! Puttin' on the Glitz

Only two more days!! WooHoo!! I don't know about you, but I'm getting pretty darned excited. How will you spend Inauguration Day?
Are you partying? Do tell!

If you've been following my blog, you will remember the disaster piece that I shared in my last post. Many of you were very kind to offer suggestions on how to fix it up, and so yesterday I decided to take your words to heart and fiddle around with it a bit. I decided to make some gingko leaves out of Angelina fiber and and add them:

I auditioned the leaves onto the top of the fabric, but didn't like them this way:


So, as Gerrie had suggested, I added a layer of organza to make the printed leaves appear to be below the surface of the water

then I put the Angelinaleaves on top

I quilted it all down yesterday afternoon, but did not add the leaves until this morning. Pam, Eva, and Elizabeth all suggested more gingkos: some bright, some faint, so I made a couple of fainter ones this morning. I see the sun shining on the upper left 2/3s of the piece, and the bottom right corner being more or less in the shade. I added a small piece of blue tulle down there, and the darker Angelina gingko leaves. I like the effect:


I bounded it with some of the backing turned over, and here it is, "Puttin' on the Glitz":


and a detail shot:


Thank you one and all for your suggestions and support! See, I do listen!! It was a fun little project, and I have now cleared the decks and will get busy with my next project!

Life is good, and getting better all the time!!!

PEACE!!!!

FOUR and not a day more!

I had a great day in the studio today....printing, dyeing, painting, exploring. Here is a piece of white on white cotton on which I have ironed more of the freezer paper hearts :

I'd already removed the two hearts at the bottom when I took the picture. I was excited to see how the white pattern on the fabric resisted the paint and produced a more visible pattern .

Here I've removed all of the freezer paper hearts:



I really, really like the freezer paper hearts and will probably use some for Valentines:

Now that I've finally got the heat setting on my Thermofax machine adjusted correctly, I am having a ball making screens. I doodled a bunch of hearts and then made this screen, which I printed on more of the white on white fabric:


Here are a bunch of my Valentines:

Remember the gingko leaves that I overdyed the other day? I decided that the fabric needed something, so I brayered some sequin waste and a bit of bubble wrap on top of it.....I hate what happened!!!

So then I decided to outline the leaves with black textile paint, and then I used a black fine point Sharpie:
Finally, I've foiled them:
I think I will do some quilting around them and see what happens. Any suggestions? (It's ok to tell me to just throw it away........I won't hit you!)

PEACE

SIX!!!...............no more Mavericks!

Here is the finished quilted pillow top that I was working on the other day:

It had been a while since I had done any free motion quilting, so I got out all of my notes and samples from the class I took with Carol Taylor way back when (how long ago was that Amanda?). As I mentioned the other day, I was having eyelash problems while using the Bottom Line thread, so I switched to monofilament and didn't have anymore problems. I've decided it is time to make all new pillows for our livingroom couch, and my intention is to use my hand-dyed and printed fabrics. And, they will be quilted! So, stay tuned for further pillow talk.

Here's a detail shot of the above pillow, you can see the eyelashes and then the lack thereof:


As we walked on the golf course last evening, we were in awe of the gorgeous sunset. I hurried home in hopes of capturing it over the lake:


Here's how things tend to look on the love seat at around 9:30 PM every evening:

and as if that doesn't say it all:

PEACE!!!