A Banana Slicer?

I kid you not . . . it's a banana slicer! Have you ever heard of such a thing? Do you really need a special tool to slice a banana? Hmmmm.I looked down the grocery store aisle and spotted this thing hanging on a display. I had to take a closer look, and the longer I looked, the more convinced I was that I had to own this. Am I crazy? Yeah, I am, but I'm thinking that I could print some pretty cool bananas with this tool. I'll let you know how it turns out, you too may have to own one! LOL

My Art Techniques Group is having a technique book exchange. 120 artists have signed up to make 120 sample squares of their chosen technique along with instructions on how it was done. I can't wait to see all the different samples. I've been busy cutting all my sun-printed fabric into 4" squares. The problem is, 4" is too large. I guess I should have read ALL the directions before I started cutting. Sheesh! That little error explains this pile of scraps! 4" became 3-1/4". Now I have to figure out what to do with all these little pieces. Ahhh . . . the fun just never ends.
And here's the biggest project of them all. Did you notice that the trash is gone? We have plants in the ground now. Yeah!! I still have more to plant next weekend, but 90% are done. See the new gutters and the new fence and the new paint job? We still need shutters and decomposed granite paths, but the worst is behind us. Finally!

Painting Fun

There was a lot of clean up to finish before I could paint some fabric. Here's what it looked like the morning of our trash pick up. Boy, are we the talk of the neighborhood! There must have been at least 90 trash bags, plus lots of wood. I am so glad the junk is all gone. It feels good.

I was finally able to make some time to paint! I'm doing a technique trade through a yahoo group I belong to. I decided to do my samples on Sun printing. Here's a close up showing the items I used.

Here's the dried fabric after the items were removed.

I will cut this into 4" squares and attach directions to the back for incorporation into a Fat Book.Here are some painted clay pieces that will be incorporated with dyed paper towels and paint markers for ATC's.

And here are several of the finished ATC's. Everyone in my trading group seemed to enjoy them. What do you think?

Kreativ Blogger Award

Back in December, I received the Kreativ Blogger Award from my good friend Pam. Pamela Price Klebaum is one of my Fibervision buddies, a fantastic artist and a natural blogger. I want to apologize to Pam; between the holidays and home remodeling, the award got buried in my Inbox. I just uncovered it, dusted it off and will pass it on to five deserving artists.

Wanda at Exuberant Color. Wanda always has something kreativ in the works and blogs every single day.

Susan Lenz from Art in Stitches deserves this award BIG time. Her vision of Cyber Fyber has become a reality. The exhibit will open on January 9th. Congratulations, Susan, I wish I could be there!

Isabel Downs is a talented member in my Blockheads quilting group. Isabel's blog is so new that I haven't even had a chance to add it to my sidebar. She has embraced blogging in a HUGE way. Welcome to Blog Land!

Nikki Wheeler is a busy mom of 4 young children that always makes time for her kreativ side. Very impressive!

Patsy Thompson is an amazing machine quilter. If you haven't seen her work, you must go now!

Here's my finished portrait quilt. I've added some plastic flowers around her head and a lovely necklace that says, "Live, Love, Laugh", and the background has been embellished with seed stitches. Off to Susan Italo's house it goes! I'll post a photo after Susan gets it put together. I totally enjoyed making this portrait and have decided to make at least one per month.

I haven't finished the scarf yet; it's just a wee bit short. Two more feet should make it long enough to wrap any way she chooses. The basket weave pattern hides lots of mistakes. Good thing!

Knitted Scarf

Thanks to online tutorials, I recently learned how to knit continental style. It is so much faster than the way my grandmother taught me. No wasted motion. Don't you just love the internet? My son (Sean) and his girlfriend (Megan) are moving to Portland next week. Megan is always cold in CA, so I'm not sure how she's going to fare in OR. Anyways, I decided to knit a scarf for her. It's made with Moda Dea Tweedle Dee yarn using a basketweave stitch. It's pretty simple as far as knitting patterns go, but I don't knit very often.
I'm going to San Jose to visit family for a few days. I'll take my knitting and portrait with me to work on. Hopefully, I'll be able to finish both.
Our house is completely painted, but I'm so sore, I can barely walk. This is the last time we will ever paint a house ourselves. We're getting too old for this!! With any luck, we'll have the plants and paths in by next week.

I want you all to know that I appreciate your comments and online friendship. I'm generally respond to each person individually, however, I just haven't had the time to do that lately. I'm sure my life will be back to normal soon.