i have been working on this piece for years. in truth, i work on most of my pieces for years simply because i have the worst case ever of quilter's ADD~! i used to want to be cured but have pretty much given up on that. when i pass on to that great quilting guild in the sky i will leave behind massive amounts of fun fiber "surprises" for my daughter to benefit from in whatever way she chooses.

btw: if you're reading this Miss Tiffanny, i expect lots of gratitude (prior to the passing) whether your feeling it or not. after all there are plenty of people reading this post who would love to be in my will right about now . . . this is where you all get to chime in and leave a comment as proof that my daughter really is getting something of value here. please help me out.



anyway, the middle four-block area of this piece in progress currently measures 20 and 1/2 inches square.

i've hand appliqued and used "old" colors which i love. i can no longer remember what my first germ of inspiration was but almost all of my work is done in a willy-nilly design as i go kind of way. due to the fact that i rarely complete anything quickly this results in many and various bursts of inspiration from all sorts of places. in the end it's a conglomeration of ideas, techniques and happy accidents that make it my own. i'm good with that.

the berries are compared here to the bobbin that comes out of my featherweight (the machine that i use the most). they are pretty small but i loved working on them so much that i have a surplus . . . the quilt's not finished yet so who knows where they might land in the end . . .

this is the back side of one of the berries which i created much like one makes a yo-yo. i wanted them to have a bit of dimension to them and this allowed me to achieve that and gave me a nice smooth circle to applique down. i'm pleased that they have just a bit of pop to them without sticking way out once they're sewn down.

the border pieces are constructed using Sew and Fold on a Roll: Tri-Angles 22.5 in the 3" finished width. it's very accurate and i love the dragon's teeth border but i did feel like there was a bit of waste. pros and cons i guess.

now why have i brought this piece out of "storage" i can hear you asking. just where exactly did my latest burst of inspiration hail from?

let me tell you.

i was doing a bit of blog hopping this a.m. and ran into a fantastic post over at:

www.funwithbarbandmary.blogspot.com

that totally inspired me and reminded me that i had something similar in the works. the post includes luscious photos of several quilts that have been created using a similar style and LOTS of orange (aka cheddar). AND there's a give-away going on that looks pretty spectacular too. it's sort of a catch 22 situation: if i announce and link to it in my blog i get an extra chance at winning but i also give that many more people their chance . . .

so here's the deal; think of me if you go over to this great blog and happen to win due to my heads up.

;-)

otherwise what i will have "won" is a gentle reminder about my very own (and unfinished) project. this project is now in the front of my mind instead of the back of a cupboard and that's not a bad prize either~! and you, well you have "won" the discovery of a really beautiful and inspiring blog. i think we've all come out pretty shiny with this deal regardless of what happens ~ don't you?

p.s. i'll keep my fingers crossed for you if you'll do the same for me.

today is my daughter's 25th birthday. i've been missing her a lot but we have been able to speak on the phone and she is happily celebrating with a couple of her near-by Peace Corp. friends. apparently her Honduran community was also very kind in wishing her a happy birthday as well.

in an effort to distract myself from not being able to be with her on this day i took both of my cameras out into the garden.

this first shot was taken using my older Canon Powershot SD750. i think i miss it . . .

i'm not sure if this is garlic or onion blooming but i thought it was really pretty.

this is the first (one and only (so far) crookneck squash. it's still pretty small. i liked the way the leaves made a nice natural vignetting for it.

the geraniums are throwing out lots of flowers and i'm enjoying their happy red jubilance.

i took several shots of Emmitt. this one struck me as quite cute. as if he is saying "enough already!"

i hope to be getting around to some blog visiting tomorrow. just too tired tonight.

have been able to spend some time in the garden which always knocks me behind on everything else and the power was out for approximately 24 hours due to a wild land fire which threw me even further behind . . .

so am leaving you with a simple post and a photo of the most recently completed postcard.

i've finally sewn on the borders to the broken dishes top that i've been working on. next i will be working on stitching the (scrappy/pieced) back together.

i don't currently have a design wall set up so you are seeing it laid over a guest bed. my apologies. i hope to be able to get a better shot of it later on . . .

this is a photo i took of some of the embellishment choices for the current fabric postcard that i'm working on . . .

and this is some of those same bits sewn on. i hope to be binding the card today and getting it ready to send very soon.

i meant to have these things done yesterday but there was a problem with the pond that demanded my immediate attention. the hose that connects the pump and the filter somehow became separated (the neighbor's dogs perhaps . . . ?!) which resulted in the water being pumped out of the pond completely. unfortunately that pretty much threw the rest of the day's plans out the window. the good news is that despite having all but a few inches of water pumped unexpectedly out of it, the losses were fairly minimal and it seems to be back to relative normalcy today. i'm grateful that i was here, caught what was going on and was able to handle the situation well enough to keep damages minimized.

i have been having some trouble at times leaving comments . . . is anyone else having this sort of problem? i suspect that it has something to do with bloggers new spam control but can't really say for certain as there seems to be no consistency.

my original photo

this is my result from lesson #2 in Digital Expressions by Susan Tuttle.

the lesson was "Popping Areas of Color" and was really only difficult because my hands weren't really steady enough to manage the mouse/cursor to select areas. it's very easy to wobble a bit on one's intended line (especially if one has shaky hands at all) and even though i chose an extremely simple photo to work with i managed to botch it up.

there is a special tablet one can get and it enables the user to hold a pen-like instrument and actually "draw" on the image . . . i may have to do some research and see if it would be worth it for me to get one.

because my background was a white towel for this photo it didn't really make much of a difference when i removed the color. so i decided to additionally filter my background with a sketch layer and then got to wandering around a bit and kinda did my own thing . . .

i guess i did succeed in creating a color popped look but i didn't exactly follow all instructions to the letter.

i like the original photo much better but i did learn some things and am now ready to step away from my photoshop program and my computer screen for a while.

"To exist is to change,

to change is to mature,

to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly."

Henri Bergson

another postcard in progress . . .

i'm thinking of adding some buttons.

speechless

this is a fabric postcard that i've created for my mom's birthday.

now, off to the post office to mail it.

i've finished and mailed my daughter's birthday postcard. she'll be 25 this year~!~

today i used a shot of Grace to do some PSE7 practice. i recently purchased a book (Digital Expressions by Susan Tuttle) that is all about "creating digital art with adobe photoshop elements". all of the digital art that i have so far done has been by trial and error and i thought i would see if progressing through this book would help me out. i'm hoping for less cursing and more happy endings!

anyway, she starts the reader out with simple vignetting instructions and i followed along with a shot of Gracie. i did learn some things and am ready to go on to the next challenge: Popping Areas of Color.

so here's to happy ending number one~!