welcome to my busy day~!

i've been hard at it working on my next (scrap) donation quilt top. still trying to use up all of my strips and strings. this is a 15 inch block made using Marti Michell's Kaleido-Ruler and instructions. so far it's worked out pretty nifty and i hope to have three more of these blocks put together within a few days. then i'll sew those into a 30 inch square center piece and think about some borders to bring it up a bit more in size to a baby quilt size.

i do have one concern. i have sewn the strips and strings onto low thread count muslin bases because the nature of string piecing can be a bit inaccurate otherwise.
i then felt like those pieces were going to be too "weighty" beside the other pieces so in the interest of consistency i also sewed all of the other pieces to the same low thread count muslin. my original thought was i could leave out the batting and make a lighter weight summer quilt using flannel for the back. after having constructed one of the blocks i am wondering if this will present any challenges to the machine quilter? the bulk only seems to be an issue where several seams come together but i know that if i were hand quilting it i would have to choose quilting that avoided those areas . . .

if there is anyone who can offer me their thoughts, experience and/or advice on this i would appreciate it.


i've been working on ATC's a little bit over the last few days and am in process with these two fabric ones. i've used vintage lace and emboridered bits of pillowcase to begin with and i'll add some stitching and maybe some other embellishment . . . a bit of vintage jewelry, buttons, etc . . .
maybe add an embroidered word or two . . .

btw: i want to mention that Sharon Boggon of www.pintangle.com has a new option for those of us seeking embroidery stitch instruction. she has created a system that will be expandable and allows for creating a personal sample book of embroidery stitches as one follows along. it's pretty cool and i'm excited to be actively making my very own stitch/sample book to use as a reference for not just the stitches offered but also for whatever variations that i may come up with. i highly recommend that you check it out if you are at all interested in embroidery.

i've not made any fabric ATC's before but i'm assuming that i will need to attach a card stock backing to them in order to create some rigidity . . .

once again, any advice would be appreciated.

this last one is a paper and glue collage card. i used a card that i had zen tangled on for the base. i wasn't thrilled with it so covering it with cut outs and paint seemed like a good option. the outer colored frame is made up of paint samples/cards from the hardware store. i cut one edge of them with decorative edging scissors.

i'm calling this one A Fish in the City and may do other cards with this "Lost" theme at some point . . .

the "Lost" card is no longer available for trade.

fairies' wings . . . i just love this shot~!!~

i think this is the mughos forming some brand new cones. i've never really noticed them quite like this in the past . . . not sure if it's because they haven't ever done it before (which i doubt) or just that i notice so much more since i started with the photograpy and this is especially true when i have the camera in my hand.

the grass that grows near the pond is starting to flower. these are especially difficult to shoot because the actual bloom is not bigger than a strand of hair. if you enlarge this photo, you will see reddish coily parts of the blossom . . . really amazing in macro~!!~

i have two jacobs ladder plants, also growing by the pond, one is white and the other is purple. they are both blooming nicely right now but what i really like about these plants is that their foliage resembles ferns. in our growing climate it can be really really REALLY hard to get ferns to take hold, so i rely on my jacobs ladder to give me fern-like texture around the pond area. i know, that isn't what i shot today, but the flowers have sorta stolen the show~!~

this is just a photogenic weed. again, a very tiny cluster of blossoms . . .

remember back to when i was doing my scrap management project~!?!~ well, i had sewn up a coin quilt top and sent it off to be quilted . . . this is the back of the quilt.

this is a detail of the front.

and this is the little quilt (child size) all finished. i have the binding done and the label sewn on and it will be leaving the house this afternoon on it's way to being donated to a local/community charity/auction/benefit that is being held later on this month. and that is my wonderful daughter holding it for me . . . i would like to post photos of her but to tell the truth, it scares me. maybe one of my readers has advice on that . . .

there are so many horror stories about various and potental mis-use of them . . . am i being paranoid or should i really not be posting photos of my daughter!?! after all, she is an adult now . . .~!!!~

once she goes to Honduras i will be able to get back in the habit of "scrap management" and then, hopefully, will have more of these quilts stacking up for future use as gifts and charity donations. it sure feels good to have this one completed and going out to be useful~!!~

i also have a happy update on the lost and found dog: he was adopted out last friday to a family happy to have him~!!~ i was so glad to hear that he didn't have to spend too very long at the shelter before someone realized that he was a "keeper".

Choosing

as i was doing some light digital "visiting" this a.m. i noticed that there are more than a few of us who are feeling various degrees of malaise. i myself have been haunted by the ghosts of depression just lately . . . i'm glad that i haven't been chased by the all out MONSTER that it can be but am definately feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, listless, tired, etc . . . etc . . . etc.

so in an effort to inject some sunshine into my own life i took some time to "build" a little pick-me-up photographic moment. i hope it helps put the "happy" back in your heart too~!!~even if only for a brief moment.

by the way: i may be breaching some blog etiquette by not contacting all of my blog contacts/friends on a daily or even a weekly basis . . . i really don't know as i'm new to all of this, but i guess you should all know that i do my best to visit you as often as i can and sometimes it works out to a lot but usually i barely keep my head above the proverbial water. so don't be offended by what might appear to be a lack of interest on my part because it's anything but that~!!~ and please do feel free to gently and honestly advise me on what i should and should not be doing better with my little slice of the internet pie. i am so always open to suggestions~!~

i would also appreciate whatever enlightenment anyone might be able to give me regarding comments that link back to a blog that is "empty" of anything except a website button/option/directional . . . recently i had a comment left that was of this nature. the comment was nice enough but upon linking back to the blog and hitting the next link to the website i just had a feeling that it was not going to be good (a bit like Alice in Wonderland with an "eat me or drink me" mysteriously posted about). low and behold i found myself facing some pornographic options that i did not happen to be in the mood for. i felt stupid because i had actually re-commented back to this person already and felt that i had to go back into my comments and do some deleting in order to protect my readers from becoming victims as well. now, if i somehow misunderstood this person's intentions, i am sorry. but i'm pretty sure that i didn't and was wondering if this sort of thing happened a lot in blogworld . . . again, any advice is welcome as i'm just a babe in these new woods and could really use it~!!~