Where does the Time Go?

It's hard to believe that two weeks have passed! The older I get, the faster time goes by!
I finished 120 samples of sun printing, complete with instructions and mailed those off. I can't wait to receive all the pages. It's going to be great! Jean loved the exchange quilt I made for her, and I love the one she made for me. I still need to take photos of both. I just finished some ATC's for my group tomorrow, but they are still very wet. Next post!
The front section of our house is finally coming to an end. Mulch has been added and the irrigation is on, but they really don't need much because they are drought tolerant. Mike has a few things to finish, but I've moved on to another area.

Here's a close-up of one of the plants. This is a "Razzleberry" Loropedlum. Some of the other plants are Lions Tail, Red Hot Poker, Flax, Angel Trumpet, Blue Agave and Blue Fescue.
Here's a cool cactus that I bought for my daughter. The cactus is soft and squishy.When you pick up the cactus, you find the pen. Pretty cool, huh? I couldn't resist, it made me smile. I hope it makes my daughter smile, too.

Sneak Peak

My "Blockheads" quilting group does some type of exchange each year. This year, we partners exchanged an item to be used as inspiration to make a small quilt for that person. The item I received was a photo of water with lily pads and rose petals. The quilt is due next weekend, and of course, it's not finished (another story), but it is well on its way. Anyways, here's a sneak peak of a small section. I can't post the whole thing, because Jean reads my blog, and I want her to be surprised. Can I finish it in time? I hope so. I've had a year to work on it, but of course, I didn't start until the deadline was looming. Then I got very, very sick. I was in a lot of pain, and a strange infection was spreading all over my stomach. I was completely wiped out . . . a walk to the kitchen was exhausting. I was taking three types of antibiotics and hoping that one of them would work . . . and it did. Needless to say, I shouldn't have waited till the last minute to start this. I hope I have enough time to finish Jean's quilt.

Yesterday, I stopped at the thrift store and found the wooden stamps in the top row. Can't wait to give those a try. Then I saw the little roller tool at the craft store and thought that it looked like fun. It's supposed to be used on clay, but I'm thinking it could also be used with paint and ink. As my good friend, Susan, said, "You must be feeling better if you're shopping." She's right, I am feeling better!

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.

Funny Face

Check out this face! Isn't it a riot? I had a lot of fun playing in my studio last night! Just need to embellish, layer and quilt. You may remember that my friend lost her house in the Tea Fire. My Fibervision buddies decided to make her a quilt to cheer her up and let her know we're thinking of her. Susan Italo will mount these little quiltlets (8.5 x 11) onto a Wild Onion quilted background. I'm sure she will love it . . . wouldn't you?

Hope you all have a very happy and prosperous New Year. Given the state of the economy, I'm sure that 2009 will have many challenges, but I'm optimistic that we will be able to reverse some of the damage.

I'm grateful to have such a wonderful stash of art supplies to help me make 2009 a very colorful year!

Before and After

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. We had a great time with our three kids (young adults). My daughter was on a training trip (swimming) for 2 weeks in Florida, then came to CA for Christmas. Fortunately, she missed all the snow storms in IL. From what I understand, all the melting snow is now causing floods. My youngest son will be moving to Portland in another week, so it's probably the last time we will be together for quite a while :-(

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to do anything too creative during our exterior remodel. It's just amazing how a broken water heater has snowballed into a major remodel. We still don't have plants or paths, however, we do have new stucco, new concrete entrance, new paint, new fence and new gutters. The new stucco on the front walls seem to be dry, so we'll be painting the front today. Once that is done, the plants and paths can be installed. Yeah!!! There is an end in sight.

Here's the before and after view from my front door.We removed a hedge on the right hands side, so we decided to widen the entrance. Here's the new entrance. I was tempted to stick something into the wet concrete, but I was good.

Hmmm . . . this concrete and rebar is pretty interesting. I like the industrial feel and the grid.I like it even more after he contrast was increased. Hmmm . . . should I make this into a thermofax screen? Just goes to show that you never know where you'll find inspiration!

Goodie Bag

My friend Kathy had a little surprise for me when I picked her up for the Blockheads Holiday Party on Saturday. A Goodie Bag!Either she knows me too well, or she is starting to think like me. Now that's a scary thought! LOL

Here's a close-up of a corrugated box that was inside the bag. It should make some interesting rubbings.While I was at Home Depot buying paint for the house, I found this interesting piece that is used as a gutter guard. I'm going to take the two layers apart and use it to paint and stencil. Stay tuned for yet another experiment!And best of all . . . some flowers from Mike. They're soooo pretty!

White on White Tallis

A long time friend commissioned me to applique some white doves and leaves on a white silk tallis. Heidi is doing a lot of white on white hand embroidery. I hope you can see the dove in this photo, it was very difficult to photograph. There are 10 doves in all, 5 on each side panel.It is very understated and elegant. Her son will be using the tallis at his wedding instead of a chuppa. Sounds like it's going to be a very grand affair at the San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito. There is a very good chance that this wedding will be highly publicized.

Here's a little experiment I tried with a 1" styrofoam ball. I felted wool roving to the styrofoam. Little by little, the styrofoam seemed to disappear, leaving a felted ball in its place. I flattened one of the balls into a button shape and punched two holes through it. This is a lot of fun, I can see myself making enough felted beads for a necklace.

You could feel a storm approaching this afternoon, the temperature started to drop and the clouds were rolling in quickly. It made me want to cook a large pot of chicken soup, so I pulled out carrots and look at what I found!

Needle Felting

Here's a close-up of the type of needle felting I'm adding to my Revision quilt (see last post).Unfortunately, I broke all three needles at one time, so I guess I need to buy some more. I find stabbing this poor quilt with sharp needles quite relaxing. I think it's really good therapy and everyone should run right out and buy all the necessary supplies! Could you pick up some needles for me while you're at it?

Progress? Slow but sure. At this point, all the work we've been doing isn't real impressive, but it is necessary. Since the last landscaping post, we've added irrigation, bender board, gutters and stucco patch. The whole surface needs a coat of stucco, and then paint. Once the garage wall is painted, the plants can go in and then decomposed granite paths. So close, but yet so far!

Here's what the back yard looks like. Our own personal dump! We've already had a huge load of concrete hauled away and a load of green waste removed. I guess we should have waited a while; I didn't realize Mike would get so carried away with the chain saw. I'm sure the remaining plants are convinced that they are next and are doing their best to look beautiful so they will be spared!

Revision Quilts

For this second year in a row, Fibervision had a Revision Challenge. Each participant put a quilt or quilt top that they made, but no longer want, in a brown paper bag and trade their bag with another participant. The challenge is to take whatever piece your receive and Revision it into a new, wonderful, useful object or quilt.

Some people remove pieces and reuse them in some way. Some make additions and turn them into useful items like bags or boxes. Some change the look by dyeing, discharging or painting the fabric.

I received a finished quilt, complete with binding, a label and a poem. It's a pretty traditional pattern, but it had bits of yarn and tulle running through it a lot of beads. I had a very difficult time with this piece, because I know it took many hours to make. I didn't want to destroy it. I stared at it for months and often used it to cover up when I was chilly in my studio. I knew I had to do something dramatic to change it but what? Cutting it wasn't going to be enough and I couldn't take it apart because the quilting was quite dense. I decided to paint it.

Here's the quilt after it was painted with Setacolor, stamped with Neopaque and rubbed with Shiva sticks. It's very different, but it still isn't quite finished. Now I'm needle felting wool roving on top in a swirling circle pattern.

I told everyone that I was going to turn it into a bag, but they all thought it was great as a quilt and didn't want me to cut it.

What do you think? Keep it whole or turn it into a large tote bag? Hmmmm

The big reveal was today at our holiday party. Everyone made fantastic Revision pieces and fabulous food. We spent the afternoon at Cathi's beautiful house enjoying each other's company. It was a great day . . . a very welcome break from the ever present landscaping project.