15 minute challenge ~ march 6

there have been some great responses to my photo challenge celebration giveaway. a big THANK YOU if you have joined in.

if you haven't yet and you would like to try to win a few of my photo art note cards click here.

i will draw a winner on march 12.

my white cyclamen is blooming. it's much more fragrant than my pink one. i notice that the fragrance gets stronger the longer the bloom has been open. 

my weekly report card for the 15 minute challenge:

tuesday, feb. 28th: hexie sewing

wednesday, feb. 29th: hexie sewing

thursday, mar. 1st: TAST (couching) leaf onto the wonderful husbands stocking

friday, mar. 2nd: TAST (couching) leaf onto the wonderful husbands stocking 

saturday, mar. 3rd: applique on secret birthday blocks

sunday, mar. 4th: applique on secret birthday blocks 

monday, mar. 5th: sewing of secret birthday blocks ~ brainstorming the (string tulip) jubilee project 

this week i did manage to get time in on all seven days but on some days it really was only 15 minutes. between things being a bit busier than usual and me feeling somewhat less motivated i didn't get as much accomplished BUT it wasn't a total loss and i have  Kate at Life in Pieces to thank for that.  you might consider joining up and seeing if it helps you out as well.

in looking back at the 15 minute challenge posts i realized that i have quite a few projects that i am juggling around. i like the variety this offers me in what to work on.
 
one of the projects that is new to the list is my (string  tulips) jubilee piece.

the jubilee project is all about making oneself a quilt in celebration of a major life milestone such as one of those upper decade birthdays that we all hope to get to at the same time that we dread having done so. many of those involved are recognizing a 50th birthday and all the memories and accomplishments that come along with that year.  i won't be 50 for a couple of years but i know myself well enough to get a head start. i really cannot justify starting another new project when i have so many that are quietly waiting for me to become re-inspired to work on them.
so after much thought about how i could have my cake and eat it too i realized that i have some  string tulip blocks that have been calling my name for quite some time now. i thought if i used them i might be able to participate in this group celebration as well as finish a project.  good on me right~!?!

so i'm going to start sharing some photos of the brainstorming that i've done for the past couple of weeks . . .

i thought that i had approximately 50 of the tulips but when i counted them i actually had 70~!


and then as i got to digging around i ended up finding  27 more~!!!
i really liked making these string quilted tulips. i may have to make a whole jubilee series of quilts~!

the centers of all of the tulips are cut from hand dyed oranges that i dyed myself. they range a bit in color and a few have the usual  'surprises' that can be found in hand dyed goods but for the most part they all look very similar. i think this commonality in the tulips will help hold the whole project together nicely as well as possibly reducing the 'busy' factor a bit.

i'm also thinking that i would like to use red and/or cheddar fabrics somehow in the setting but have made no firm decisions as to just how or where. 

so what i do have is a few sketches of some of the possibilities:

this sketch shows one of the ways that a single tulips could be appliqued onto each block as well as a possible setting that could be used for those blocks and a possible border idea.

this sketch shows four tulips arranged within one block as well as the blocks within a possible setting.

and here is yet another possibility.

i also have thought about:

•  a strippy set
• incorporating the tulips into a vine somehow
• a row by row setting with the tulips 'growing' neatly together, somewhat like in the bottom portion of the last sketch

as well as many combinations of all of the above. the possibilities are probably endless.
i'm not sure of any sizes or measurements yet and will have to get down to seriously mapping some of that out. 
so this is just a barely scratching the surface sort of start but it is a start and i'm beginning to get more than a little excited about this project so you're bound to see a lot more of it either here or within the jubilee blog or maybe both.


recent gifts include:

• a sun filled day that is melting the last of our recent snowstorm away
• a very tasty pasta salad with a balsamic dressing
• a wonderful husband who is willing to vacuum on occasion 

some (merry) christmas projects that i've worked on and finished over the last couple of months.

 these are small (approximately 3.5 inches) mitten ornaments that i made using some of the tiniest scraps that i found in the scrapbag. hand pieced onto a scrap piece of batting. simple feather stitched embroidery over the seams and a tailor's buttonhole stitch  all around.

 they are backed with a nice bright red felt. my quilt guild donates a decorated christmas tree to a local fundraiser auction. all ornaments for this tree are handmade by the guild members and these were the ornaments that i made and donated. they are quick to make and turn out pretty cute. there was quite a selection of beautiful work done for this and someone won a very nicely decked out tree this year~!

 this was a small (approximately 9 inches tall) stocking that i made using basically the same technique. fully lined and donated to the guild's annual christmas bazaar fundraiser.

i decided to use a simple feather stitch for the embroidery on the above pieces but there are many choices when embroidering a crazy quilt seam. an excellent resource for learning more about crazy quilting is CQMagOnline.

i also enjoy going to Pin Tangle for seam embroidery details and instruction.

 this stocking was a bit bigger (approximately 13 inches tall). machine pieced with the trims being added by hand. also fully lined. my wonderful daughter decided that she would like to have this one to use as a gift for a friend.

this last stocking is quite large (approximately 20 inches tall). it was made using a vintage block that i was given (one of a set of about a dozen star blocks) that didn't lie flat. it was easy to see why the maker hadn't put them together into a quilt but of course i couldn't waste them and  have begun to use them in this way.  fully lined and also claimed by my wonderful daughter for gifting purposes.

today's gifts included:

• gingerbread cookies made and decorated by my daughter ~ these were so charming to look at that i almost didn't want to eat them
• a much needed afternoon nap
• hearing my daughter's laughter

i've been so busy that i forgot to post a finished photo of the baby quilt that my daughter and i made.
the blocks were put together while she was in Honduras and sewn by hand as she had no electricity. she used thrifted fabrics: the large middle squares were salvaged from a cotton man's shirt and the strips were salvaged from a set of flannel receiving blankets. upon returning from a Christmas visit i was able to bring them home and set about finishing the quilt. i squared up the blocks, set them together and added borders. then quilted using a heavier thread and a utility stitch.
i used the same fabric on the back as i did for the borders.
the binding is a double fold chambray.
i have forgotten the measurements of this one.

i happened to find a small bear that fit nicely into the pocket from the man's shirt that she used. it looks pretty cosy in there~!

the patch that she sewed onto the pocket was salvaged off of a thrifted baby garment.

this is the quilt top that i recently finished for an upcoming community fundraiser/auction. it measures approximately 40" square and i used only scrap fabrics to complete it.
i've pieced a flannel back for it and it's going to the machine quilter very soon.

my wonderful daughter has been home for almost two weeks now and it's so good to see her safe and sound and happily re-nesting in the U.S.

the sprouts that i planted a few weeks back are coming up like gangbusters!

i have to show off the pumpkin because it's the biggest by far. i planted four of them and they are supposed to grow into a plant that bears GINOURMOUS 200+ lb monster pumpkins. the thing is we generally don't have the season for a great pumpkin crop so i probably won't have that sort of result but i couldn't resist trying. i have to say that at the sprout stage they certainly haven't been disapointing and bring a smile to my face every time i see them so maybe i can count it as some sort of success already. 

i've been able to get back to the string quilted donation quilt that i started quite some time ago. i'm going to tease you with this macro shot for now but hope to show something much more complete soon . . . 
remember "soon" is reletive . . .

i've also been able to make progress on my Amish/Fragment piece. the applique addition is done (you can just see it up in the left hand corner there) and has been sewn on and the quilting has commenced. once again i've only shown it in part but it's coming along nicely and i'll continue to tease you with it's progress before i show the whole piece.

this last goodie is a postcard that i made for a friend way back in the late fall. i just realized the other day that i hadn't ever posted it. and guess what? believe it or not, no tease here, it's actually finished.

i am still working on the feathers and fins card so stay tuned for that one soon.

the progress report this week is a bit lean. i've been working primarily on the Christmas postcards for my daughter which judging from the way the postal system works in Honduras may be arriving at their destinations sometime next Christmas . . . better late than never?

i did get three more scrap/crumb/string pieced nine patches finished.

my total on these to date is 22 finished.

i have finished the small gift/donation quilt top and will be doing a final pressing of it and the backing fabric and then getting it to the machine quilters. this is a detail of the top and the fabric that i chose for the backing. some happy (and bright~!~) little monkeys romping around on this yardage~!!!~

i've completed six more string/crumb pieced nine patches.

FOR TRADE:

i have some fabric paper (Christmas themed) postcard sized (6" x 4") bases for trade. these have not been embellished. they are simply the fabric paper cut to postcard size with a basting stitch around the outside edge. they have a muslin foundation and are ready to be finished into postcards. you may remember that my daughter and i made quite a lot of this fabric paper back in june and i have a few more than i need. so if you would like to trade some fabric paper postcard bases that you have made for these Christmas ones let me know. i would like to trade them in bundles of between three and six cards and i do have a limited number of them. they are all different to some extent but we used Christmas music, ribbons, tissues, images, wrapping papers, etc to make them.

if you would like to check out some other photos of this fabric paper and what i have done with some of the card bases you can check out my blog entries for june 21st, 23rd and 26th as well as an entry on september 3rd. you should be able to click on any of the images and enlarge them for a detailed peek.

~!!~if you are interested in a trade let me know~!!~

after reading my final post i can see that this postcard image is the only one (of course) that will not enlarge . . . no idea why but i did check on the other photos and posts referred to above and all of those can be enlarged so you should be able to get a good idea of what they look like.

i have also posted these on my flickr page (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28992970@N02/3951665270/). and they can be super enlarged if you would like to see the details of this shot.

yesterday i discovered that i am the very lucky winner of a blog giveaway~!!!~yiipppeeeee~!!!~i participated in a giveaway hosted by Eileen of Keeping it Rural in Wisconsin (http://ruralwisconsin.blogspot.com/ ) and it's been promised that it holds some surprises, but i do know that there are vintage linens and ephemera handpicked from her very own antiques and collectibles store~Wellers (http://www.wellerstore.com/).

of course, all i can think about is what sort of wonderful art i can morph these goodies into . . . a package is on it's way and when it gets here i'll be sure and share the details within my blog. until then you should make a point of stopping by her charming blog as well as the Weller website to see what is going on. i understand that the store merchandise changes daily and is overflowing with fabulous collectible treats of every kind~!!~

speaking of art from ephemera: earlier this week i received a package from Viv Sliwka/Hensteeth (www.hensteethart.blogspot.com). i placed an order from her etsy space and am quite thrilled with, not only her work, but her incredible customer service. for those of you who don't know of Viv's work you really must take a minute or two (or five or ten) and visit her site. it's chocked full of fabulous handmade goodies that have the sweetest whimsical nature about them. her art is a treat for any eyes~!!~

i went out into the garden today and was overwhelmed with the enormous amount of tomatoes that i have ripening. i think there will be some canning/preserving in my upcoming weekend~!!~

and check out the size of that zucchini~!~i don't know how it got overlooked but once it was finally discovered it was promptly picked~! it's ginourmous~!!~

i also met up with cricket, our calico kitty who wanted to help with the gardening glory. isn't she a sweetie~!?!~ looks can be a bit deceiving though . . . she used to be an inside cat until she became very territorial and especially honry with gracie, another one of our cats. in the end, the only way to make it work out short of finding some new homes for both of them, was to make one of them a house cat and one an outside cat and keep them separated at all times~!!~ cricket actually prefers being outside anyway and as long as she has the shelter of the garage at night and during bad weather seems quite happy to be the queen of her own kingdom. meanwhile gracie sits in the windows and makes faces and hissy noises through the glass at her every time she gets the chance . . .

a couple of weeks ago i posted some shots of mayflies hatching from our pond. i've recently been able to capture shots of what looks to be either a dragonfly or a damselfly doing the same. in the top photo there are some fantastic details that can be seen, especially if you click on it and look at the larger version of the shot.

it seemed to be a lengthy and difficult process for the dragonfly and at times it would just hang limp and exhausted from the "skin" bit. in the lower photo you can see the papery shell that it has nearly completely labored out of. just a bit of one wing to go . . . unfortunately i did not get to witness the end of this drama as i had to move on to other things that needed doing. i noticed later that evening that it was gone and am assuming that all went as it should have for this "baby" dragonfly.

i continue to make good progress in rearranging my schedule for more art making. i do still have to work on giving some things up and deciding just what my priorities are . . . it's tough when you like doing everything~!!~!

this week i managed to get six tulips done and three crumb pieced nine-patches.

the nine-patches take a surprising amount of time due to the crumb/string piecing of the "darker" squares. these will measure nine inches when sewn up.

i've also begun to sort out the very smallest scraps so that i can streamline them into a project and make them useful too . . . was going to brainstorm that this afternoon but am running out of time . . . please feel free to share ideas if you have any.

the Christmas card (#4) that i was working on last week is now bound and complete. i went around the edges with a machined zig zag stitch in a variegated thread (Christmas colors). time to start working on # 5~!~

i have been working on my SPA postcard and this week's theme is "school".

while thinking about what i wanted to do i was remembering what my own favorite things were about starting a new school year. i know for some it was all about getting a new pair of shoes. i did not grow up wealthy. my parents both worked hard providing for our family and although there was always "enough", brand new shoes were not a part of every new school year. so what got me excited was that new box of crayons that i would get at the beginning of the year. that was back in the day when the school still provided those supplies . . . new crayons, new pencils, new erasers and once in a while a few colored pencils(!!!) . . . and the books . . . i was a voracious reader~!~ so share with me what memories you have of school. i want to know what you did or did not enjoy about school. what year you remember as being particularly good or eventful in some way and why . . . were you a social butterfly or more the wall-flower type? or maybe you were one of those rebel types that the rest of us wished we had the courage to be . . . in the meantime; i'll work on my postcard and you can pop back in on sunday and have a look.

my daughter turned 24 years old yesterday~!~even though i took part in the whole process from the very beginning, i'm quite surprised by this event . . . i know that it's very trite and oversaid but, where oh where did the time go~!?!~ she spent her birthday discovering cloud forests in Honduras. i can't imagine it getting much better than that~!~you go girl~!!~ the late summer flowers are swaying in the hot summer sun now and once again, i wonder where the time went . . . around here, the fall season usually comes suddenly and with a vengeance, charging straight into a long cold winter so at any time we could wake up to killing frosts and ruined gardens and frozen flowers. i consider every day a gift from the summer gods and brace for the worst. every once in a great while we have a "real" warm extended fall season but it's rare. so it's hope for the best and expect the worst for us sun worshipers.

this year the strawberries that i planted did terribly. i got less than a handful of very tiny berries over the whole year. they were quite tasty and sweet but NOT in abundance. today i discovered the biggest cache yet~!~ three ripe berries~!!!~again, no bigger than my thumb nail but picture perfect anyway~!!~

earlier this summer i had an arborist tell me that the tree that i thought was a Japanese cherry tree is actually an ornamental crab apple. due to our fabulously unusual, virtually frost free spring, we have an abundance of fruit beginning to ripen. these are also very tiny and once the fall frosts have "cured" them the birds will come and feast all winter long. i'm looking forward to having an abundance of natural bird food right outside my front door and near a window from which i can watch this ongoing winter feast.

the bees know that time is of the essence and are busier than ever in their honey making endeavors.

so, between the cues given me by my garden and the local school year resuming, i have decided that it's time for me to get a bit more serious about my creative pursuits. i've been reading a book by Julia Cameron called "The Sound of Paper/Starting from Scratch" and it has become a helpful resource full of tools to get myself back on a (disciplined) creative path. i have been guilty in the past of thinking that creativity and discipline do not belong together in the same sentence but i'm quite certain i was wrong~!!~as there have been many a night that i have gone to bed feeling like, once again, i failed to catch the comet by the tail and fly simply because i don't think that i have the time or extended energy to do it. Julia councils me that i must be hyper aware of fleeting bits of time and use those productively rather than look for full days of extended energy to work with. i must consider my art important enough to set aside absolute blocks of time for. so i've begun to do just that; set aside specific scheduled time to work on various creative persuits. i've recognized and decided that not honoring these promises to myself is just as bad as not honoring promises that i've made to others. i have always considered myself careful with integrity and given to my full potential (often stretching beyond even that). at least that is how it goes when it's someone else other than myself that i've made the promises to . . . not so much when it comes down to being true to my self, particularly my artistic self.

the next few weeks will be all about re-organizing my schedules so that i can take better care of my creative side with much more loving attention than i have in the past. much easier said than done but i think i can claim a good start.

during this past week i managed to get back to my scrap management projects and finished eight tulips. i also worked on the ongoing Christmas card project for my daughter and card #4 is ready to finish and bind.

i put aside a bit of daily time to work on my sunday postcard art challenge. this is a sneak peek of what i'm working on for the fish theme that is coming up.

AND last but not least, i have uploaded my photoshop elements program. you know the one that i have been dancing around since last Christmas!?! i have acitvely begun tutorials and am making some progress in understanding all that this program will be able to add to my photography/digital art. i am getting excited~!!!~

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".

scrap management progress from last week. i didn't get nearly as much done as i would have liked due to feeling a little low in energy and needing to put what energy that i do have towards different priorities. during the next couple of weeks i may be posting sporadically as we will be moving Tiffanny (daughter) from university (she graduates~!!~) back to home. she'll be with us for approximately six weeks and then she will be going to Honduras with the Peace Corps. lots of mixed feelings about all of this . . . so, i've dubbed the little nine-patch/snowball blocks my "comfort" quilting and am hand sewing myself a little doll quilt. it's a portable project and soothing to work on so it will be my primary project for the next little while.

i have also decided to do a small series of studies in texture for my daily photo discipline over this very busy time. it will probably be boring as hell for any readers that i have but will fulfill my daily photo discipline with simple shots. i have been wanting to start a small textures file and this seems like just the right time to do it.

if i seem sporadic or unresponsive it is simply that i'm very busy and trying to maintain my health during this busy and stressful time by doing only the barest necessities that need doing . . . bare with me and i'll hopefully be back on pace very soon.