a giveaway announcement and a new orchid

there's a new orchid in the house~!~ 

 

 

 isn't is beautiful? it's an oncidium "twinkle fragrance fantasy". whenever i get a new orchid i wonder if i will be able to keep it growing, and even better, get it to re bloom. i have failed more times than i have succeeded but my phalaenopsis (moth orchid) is just now beginning to present a stem with a few buds so apparently i continue to succeed with that one.

 

 

 

 i decided to use a crop from the above photo for the Photo Art Friday challenge over at Pixel Dust Photo Art where the optional theme/challenge this week is to share a piece of photo art based on any of these words: connected/connecting/connection.

Bonnie has once again freely offered up one of her beautiful textures for those participating. this one is called "Scratched Lens Texture" and i thought that it was very pretty. 

Scratched Lens Texture

Oncidium Photo Crop

 

Photo Art Friday
connected challenge

i cannot remember exactly what i did with the various blending modes but i am happy with the final image.

it feels good for me to be 'connecting' with the PAF group once again.
:-)
maybe you would like to see some of the other submissions to this weeks' challenge? there are many talented artists submitting to the theme and it's well worth a few minutes of your time if you are interested in photography and/or the image artwork created from it.

february's postcard for the wonderful daughter has been received and so i'm once again sharing those results.


there is a small pocket made of a torn bit of wax paper stitched onto this card. the pocket holds a tiny metal key charm, dried lavender buds, a piece of sheet music with a small red heart shaped bead stitched onto it and a tiny fabric/paper tag. the tag has been embroidered and written on (both sides) and is attached to the postcard by way of that small pink triangular button and some pastel thread.

i've been working on my little 'Abundance' doll quilt and although i don't have any 'master' quilting plan in place it seems that i've been able to come up with a  design for each area as i get to it. i like the look of the playful childishness of this approach and it's all coming together nicely. 
i hope that you were able to see some of the other cute doll quilts made from this most recent quilt-along at Lori's Humble Quilts blog.

Cathy at Big Lake Quilter is hosting a generous give-away of a book by the Country Threads team called "Dear Emma". i love the look of all things Country Threads and if you do as well you might consider hopping over to Cathy's for a chance to win yourself. 

 

 

 

 

recent gifts include:

painting done by Torrie Smiley
 

• restful nights in a bed that i feel comfortable in
• word from Honduras that the wonderful daughter's host parents are doing well
• the joy and appreciation that i feel for my capable hands while i stitch or hold a pencil or pet the dog . . .

Abundance quilt-along linky party

is it just me or does this shot make you want to weep with happiness too?!

okay, maybe it's the drugs . . .

Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each.
Henry David Thoreau

 

my big rex begonia is beginning it's annual flowering event. every year in early february it blooms and blooms and blooms. by the 14th (valentines day) the floor underneath of it is constantly filling with these tiny petals of pink confetti. it's messy but i LOVE it~!!~

i'm a little late joining in but here's my little Abundance quilt-along flimsy in it's entirety.

 

 

i like having most of my doll quilts finish up in a rectangular shape rather than a square . . . i guess it seems more like it's going to fit some sweet small dolly bed that way. . .   

anyway, i went a bit renegade (;-O) and added a border onto the top and the bottom of mine to get that preferred shape. it just so happened that i had a chunk of that (green with larger red flowers) fabric left on the table after getting all the rest of it  pieced and as it also happened to be exactly the same length as i needed i took that as a sign and simply cut it in half horizontally to get one piece for the top and one piece for the bottom. easy peasy and all done~!

it currently measures 16.75 x 12.5 inches.

 

this is the backing that i stitched together for it.

i used pieces left over from making the front to piece it together as well. none of them had to be adjusted in width and only one had to be trimmed in length.

 

 

the quilting will soon commence.

 

this was a really quick and a really fun little quilt-along hosted by Lori at Humble Quilts. if you've not had the pleasure of visiting her blog before i highly recommend that you do so. she's delightful in every way and a very active and talented quilter. if you have an interest in quilting you won't be disappointed.

 

today i'm linking up to the dolly quilt-along linky party there. there's bound to be many other sweet little "Abundance" quilts for you to admire should you decide to take a peek. i know that i can hardly wait to see what other interpretations have been created~!

 

 

 

 

 

recent gifts include:

• feeling the love from all who have helped to care for me as i recover from my hip replacement surgery
•  a gap between snowstorms as i travelled home
• plenty of time to take all of the long sleepy naps that i need as my body heals
• being 'greeted' by so many sweet comments on my blog ~ thank you~!!~ 

 

 

~!?~Really~?!~

 

a groundhog gets to decide~!?!~

Did the groundhog see his shadow on Saturday?
Punxsutawney Phil  announced, on Twitter no less(!), that he did not see his shadow on Gobbler's Knob on Groundhog Day, February 2, 2013.
so, if a prognosticating groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil is to be believed, it looks like spring will come early this year.

okay, i'm not complaining about spring coming early, that's all good. in fact, that's very good and i don't have a problem with groundhogs in general, but are we really going to let a groundhog decide how much more winter we have?




this is my Abundance quilt top after i added the step 2 pieces.

i did decide to add some borders to mine (top and bottom) but i'll show you that another time.

i'm sure that Lori (Humble Quilts). is going to have a linky party very soon and you will be able to see many of these cute little doll quilts~!





this is the wonderful daughter's january postcard. i used an old calendar card, a couple of small pieces of that bunny fabric that i love, a canceled norwegian postage stamp, a leftover piece of colorful fiber art that i created for some other project, pieces from a color catcher that i thought looked sort of leather(ish), a small snip from the scrap basket and a tiny piece of sage colored linen. of course i also added some spontaneous and quick embroidery stitches and to finish it off i bound it with a cotton linen look fabric.
the wonderful husband thought that this was not my best card but i think it's one of my favorites (maybe it's that cute bunny fabric) . . . what do you think?

while i'm on the subject of the wonderful daughter (i was, wasn't i?) i will show you a shot of my newest "grandpets".

yep, i'm now the proud grandmother of two baby/juvenile rats.
the black and white one has been named Norbert and the light tan one is SirEd.
 OOPS. CORRECTION.
 the black and white one has been named FurEd and the light tan one is Norbert. i've met them and although still a bit on the shy side they were quite sweet little fellows.
i hope to get more photos of them to share as time goes on.
btw: are you okay with pet rats?





recent gifts include:

• feeling the warm sun shine on my skin
• flowering houseplants bringing me smiles
• the loud honking of the geese as they flew low over the house this morning

i will be much slower in my responses for the next few weeks but you should know that i appreciate every comment and visit that you make.

a very belated happy new year

hello all.
i've finally returned from my long holiday break which was filled with all of my favorite things: family close by, good food, relaxed chatter, laughter, love and lots of quiet time. 

i've achieved a lot with the cleaning and organizing during the past few weeks even though i have had to take it at a continually slowing pace . . .
there will have to be a break from that for a while as i have another hip surgery scheduled for early in february. this time i get a new left hip and then, hopefully, i'll be as good as new. 
during my recovery time i'll be doing several small stitch projects and although blogging and internet contact will probably be sporadic i do hope to be around.

due to my slow start into the new year and the current issues to be gotten through i have decided not to challenge myself this year with anything more than enjoying the moment and healing.
that being said, i do hope to maintain my priority of stitching at least a little bit every day and will share the results of that as i have something to show. mostly i'm going to attempt to work steadily forward on small things that need finishing up and occasionally i may jump in now and then with a mini challenge.  i've begun a personal digital art journal using photoshop and i'll share pages from that on my blog from time to time. i do still have an interest in following along with the Photo Art Friday group but for now i'll be contributing only sometimes.
this week at Pixel Dust Photo Art the optional theme is to create a piece of photo art that is minimalist. i've cheated a bit and used a photo (and haiku) that i posted on my blog in january of 2010. the shot fit the theme very well so i will be linking up to share it.
this photo was used straight out of my digitalelph camera (the only one i had at the time) with only a slight crop.

 a white world revealed

bright cleanliness; a clean start

cold revelations
 

at the beginning of the year Photo Art Friday's optional theme was to share a piece that featured a word that i chose to guide or inspire me for the year 2013. i was so excited because i had already chosen a word (receive) and i had even just finished creating a digital art journal page using it~!~ but when i attempted to post it Blogger was having issues with photo uploads. dang it~! i tried some of their work-around suggestions but without any luck so i'll share that with you now.
btw: i'm really glad Blogger is working properly again. 

 

this digital art journal page was put together using only my own photographs and artwork.

i've chosen the word "receive" as my word of the year. i hope to learn to receive both the good, as well as the challenging, as gifts. it's all about learning to see that  what i've been given isn't always about the good. sometimes it's about learning something valuable from the challenging . . . or remembering that what may seem like a burden in the present moment may not seem that way in hindsight . . .
i will be open to what this word has to teach me in the year 2013.

since i couldn't do posts of my own (and apparently other bloggers could), i enjoyed lurking catching up on some of what was going on elsewhere. when i checked up on Lori at Humble Quilts i discovered that she was doing a mini doll quilt-along and decided to join in. i'm going to need a few small pieces for fundraiser donations this year so thought this would be a great way to get a start on those.

this is my first step of the "abundance" quilt-along all finished.
i didn't stick to the colors of the original antique doll quilt or those that Lori used. i just chose from scrap pieces that i had enough of for each part of the quilt.  



 

this is the postcard that i made for the wonderful daughter for the month of december. i have also finished with the january card and will be posting it soon.

 

 

i'm currently seven stitches behind with the TAST project/challenge from Sharon B's Pintangle blog, but have every intention of jumping back into  it soon.  okay, maybe not actually jumping but definitely sitting (nicely on a cold pack) with hands ready to stitch.

 

 

 

 

recent gifts include:

• watching my granddog Suki run spinnies (you know, when the dog runs around like her butts suddenly caught on fire) round and round the yard at full speed with a big lolling tongue sort of smile on her face.
• watching a flock of geese come (almost daily) and nibble on the golf course grass that is exposed under the trees . . . they seem to be making a habit of this.
• creating a pot of ham and mixed bean soup to enjoy on a cold winter night

 

 

12-12-12 and a christmas wish

December 12, 2012 or 12-12-12 will be the last date of it's kind when all three numbers in a date are the same. The next time something like this will happen will be on January 1, 2101. According to popular belief, 12-12-12 is a lucky date that will bring good fortune.

i hope that your holiday is a reflection of this good fortune.

within the above image you will notice that there is a sweet little flying geese quilt. i received that from Maureen of Pursuit of Quilts. she made four small wonders using some left over flying geese that she had after working on her "October Surprise" quilt (shown within this post). October Surprise was a beautiful quilt and each of the four smaller pieces were just as wonderful. she gave the first two away and did a give-away drawing for the other two. i was thrilled to be one of the lucky recipients~!!~ this little quilt has so many lovely reproduction prints within it and Maureen's work is absolutely perfect~! THANK YOU so much Maureen. i love it~!!~


i haven't actually sewn much of anything since just after thanksgiving.
the carpets were all cleaned a few weeks ago and moving everything was lots of work. i decided that since i was shifting things around (and then back again) i would take the opportunity to do some other cleaning as well as some sorting out of things no longer needed and/or wanted. this slowed things down a bit but feels good to be doing. i've also been working on a bit of face-lift magic in the studio as i go; more shelves, more sorting, more folding and organizing of the fabrics and hopefully more clean surfaces by the end of it all. i guess i have spring fever a bit early this year . . . so-o-o not a lot of sewing.
no progress on TAST at all so i have a lot of catching up to do when i get back to it.
the 15 minute challenge has been designated to studio planning and organizing as i wade through these tasks.
even my photography has dwindled down to a trickle . . .
however, i was able to snap a few still life shots using some pomegranates and that new little quilt that recently came into my life. i layered my favorite with a shot from my archives of some spiderweb that had a heavy frost on it, did some blending, added text and then added a couple of festive borders to it all to create the above christmas "card". 

in addition to all of this cleaning and sorting i've been doing the same sort of thing mentally. thinking about the past year's activities and accomplishments as well as considering various challenges and tasks that i would like to line up for the next year. still mulling all of that over but i'll have it all figured out soon.

this past week has brought me a broken heart. i had to find a good home for River to move away to. i've been in denial for quite some time about my inability to manage two large and very active young dogs. i thought that if i just kept trying and hung in there until my health would give me a reprieve, than things would get better. unfortunately that's not the way it's gone and so with the wonderful daughter's help, River is safely into a new home. i just received word yesterday that she is doing well. she now lives where she is the one and only dog which means that the attention that she craves will not have to be shared with any other dog. she will like that. there is a cat but that has never been a problem with her and in fact, she seems to enjoy their quiet company so i expect that will work out well too. the adoptive owner seems very prepared and has experience with rescued dogs so she understands that River is dealing with abandonment issues from her past as well as the loss that she feels from leaving us. River and i had a special bond and this whole thing has been much more than difficult but i am sure that the right thing has been done and that she is being well looked after. my wish is that the new owner and River will forge a bond that is just as special and that it will last for the remainder of her life. she deserves it.

meanwhile, i will continue to love and care for my grand-dog until the wonderful daughter can take over the task. life is noticeably simpler and quieter which i need it to be in order to deal with my health issues. such a bittersweet ending and so many tears but life goes on and all will be well.

i promised to share photo's of the contemporary/modern piece that i created for a good friend's birthday. it's now been happily received and i can share those.

the piece is runner sized but could also be hung on the wall as skinny art. i think the picture is a bit overexposed so the colors are somewhat washed out but the detail shot does give a little bit better idea of the color.

when i was cutting and pasting the shot of the whole quilt (within photoshop) i didn't completely crop the bit shown in the detail, which is one of the reasons that i have included it. feel free to look at any of the photos in a larger format by clicking on them.

i think i still have a lot to learn about modern quiltmaking and i'm grateful that my friend happily receives experimental pieces from me. there are so many nice examples out there of this style and clearly i need some practice with it in order to achieve those kinds of results.

i am really in love with all of that quilting though~!!

 

 

 

i also have the november postcard that was made for the wonderful daughter. btw: those edges are straighter than the border/edge treatment would lead the eye to believe. i was happy with the results and she seemed happy to receive another card. 

i have begun work on the december card which i will show you within my next post. however, i have decided that i will take a holiday blog break and won't be posting until after the new year. with any luck, i'll have caught back up on my TAST stitching/christmas stockings and have some progress to show you.

i will find time to visit your blogs once in a while as i do still want to keep up with those of you who are blogging throughout the festivities. 

i hope that your holiday season is wonderful and that you are looking forward to what the new year will be bringing as much as i am.

recent gifts include:

• finding an outstanding home for my sweet River
• the smell of hot apple cider simmering on the stove
• a mug full of that apple cider on a cold afternoon
• twinkling christmas lights
• a new little dolly quilt  :-D
• christmas party visiting

TAST/checkered or magic chain stitch ~ Photo Art Friday ~ 15 minute challenge ~

this week's optional challenge at Photo Art Friday was to experiment with using Bonnie's  "Signed & Sealed" texture.

Bonnie's texture/layer: "Signed & Sealed"

i used an archived photo of my orchid plant in bloom and came up with the above image.
i did find this texture a bit difficult to work with but it was good for me to experiment with something more challenging. stretching those digital wings is exactly how i will learn to do more with them. thank you Bonnie.

Sharon of Pintangle has presented the checkered or magic chain stitch for the TAST challenge.
this variation of the chain stitch changes color as you stitch it.
it was great fun. i did some playing around with it on my own christmas stocking using a white pearl cotton (size 12) and a hand dyed variegated cotton thread of the same size. both are threaded into the needle together but only used one strand at a time.
i also played around with 'the rythym' of the white and green placement within this curvy line of stitching.
what i really wanted to do was make a candy cane with it but i didn't feel like i would get the best color contrasts since the stocking's base is a piece of a red and white quilt. no matter where i placed the candy cane one of the colors was going to blend into the background.

so i decided to play around some more and ended up creating this candy cane/sled runner onto another work in progress. i used heavier cotton threads for this attempt and used a dark red variegated with the white. i continued to use the red thread to create the rest of the sled which worked out beautifully with the thread changing color just when i needed it to.
i thought that using the lighter weight thread was a bit easier but it wasn't too much of a challenge with the heavier thread either.

i think i'm getting this 15 minute practice thing down now and i happily have seven more days of success to report. this challenge is hosted by Kate at Life In Pieces. i managed to get the TAST practice onto a stocking this week :-)  as well as another project and i'm in the process of mending/darning socks. i suppose it's not commonly done but i have a few pairs of wool socks that i like to wear around the house in winter and they are well made really good (and a bit pricey to replace) socks so i'm mending them rather than purchasing new ones. it's time consuming but i actually really really like to do this which is good because i have several pairs yet to do.

i don't have a darning egg so i'm improvising with one using an inexpensive plastic easter egg.  it actually works quite well.
i have decided to keep it fun and am using wool blend threads that do not match the sock's colors. i will use same colored threads on each pair but change the colors for other pairs as i do them.
i really don't know what i'm doing and am not sure this looks too 'professional' but apparently, i'm doing a good enough job at it, as i'm now being asked to darn other socks~!
i didn't have the perfect thread colors but there isn't a hole there anymore~!

recent gifts include:

• finding out that i won a beautiful little quilt from Maureen at Pursuit of Quilts.
• being able to darn my own comfy/pj socks~not only does it feel good to do it but it's very satisfying to be wearing one's own stitchery even if only on the heel of a sock. 
• warm soup and stew dinners in front of the t.v. and a snuggle with the wonderful husband after for 'dessert'
• anticipating my family all together over the thanksgiving holiday . . . just a couple more days . . .

by the way, i'm wishing all of you who celebrate thanksgiving a warm, safe and full of love kind of holiday. if you don't traditionally celebrate this holiday i'm inviting you to make it a personl day of thanks and wishing you the same.

TAST/open base needlewoven picot stitch ~ the fifteen minute challenge ~ Photo Art Friday

 this week's optional theme at Photo Art Friday is to experiment with a 'digitally-edited still life'.

i found this still life within my archives. it is one that i have always liked as it's not a picture of any 'thing' it's a photo of shadows and reflections of a fork resting on a glass bowl on my kitchen table. i was making bread one morning and fell in love with how it looked.

 

i decided to convert it into black and white as it was mainly shadows and reflections. i then added an additional layer/shot of a manuscript that i took, converted to black and white and used as a texture layer. i cannot remember all of the percentages of opacity, etc but when i liked the way that it looked i merged it all together for a new digitally edited still life image.

 

what do you think? do you like the original or the digitally altered version better? can you tell me why you like one more than the other?

 



i was reading a post this morning by Kathie at Inspired By Antique Quilts and was given a dose of holiday reality when i read that there are only 39 days until christmas. i knew it was coming and i felt the time whizzing by but the number just totally caught me off guard.
i have a plan to keep the holidays simple. over the years we've worked at enjoying the importance of time with family and friends as we reduce the frenzied shopping hours and pare down the decorating chores. this year my wonderful daughter has requested that she not be given any gifts at all as she just wants to experiment with enjoying the holiday for other reasons. i've requested (and been granted) the compromise of only filling stockings. after all i've been working on those crazy quilted gems all year long~!~
so i shouldn't be feeling too pressured right~!?~
wrong.
those stockings are coming along beautifully but they aren't finished and i'm doubting that they will be finished in time. i've worked on them faithfully, carefully placing stitches as they have been presented by Sharon of Pintangle with the TAST challenge. in the beginning, there were lots of seams and spaces to work with and as the year has progressed many of those spaces were filled. all good, except that the choices of where to place the given stitches became more limited as time went on. if the stitch didn't  seem to 'fit' my vision within one of the stockings i would work it into something else rather than compromise the stocking. so now, i'm looking at not quite finished needlework on each stocking . . .  should i just push forward and risk not being happy with the results? this alternative doesn't seem comfortable to me which leaves me with the distinct possibility of not reaching my deadline.
i'll be letting myself down as well as my family and others who have been watching them come along, including my blog readers (who have been anxiously waiting to see the finished pieces).
so i find that i must remind myself to breathe and continue moving forward without panic. so my self mantra is: they'll be ready when they're ready and they will be beautiful when finished.
my apologies to all of those i may have disappointed if i don't complete them when expected.



i have to once again report that the TAST stitch went onto a postcard in progress. i have added the stitch to the top of a very small crocheted doily. i'm only showing this much of it because i want it to remain a surprise until it is received . . .


sharon presented a stitch that is a variation on the stitch done the previous week and is called an open base needlewoven picot. it was time consuming but not quite as fiddly due to the open base of the stitch. this made it easier to weave. i also got a really good tip from Queeniepatch of Queenie's Needlework on using a small piece of paper under the 'warp' threads/stitches so that the needle tip moved more freely to do the weaving. this helped enormously~! thanks Queeniepatch.

 

i have seven more days of success to report for the 15 minute challenge hosted by Kate at Life In Pieces.  my work this week included the TAST stitch practice, work on a postcard, some experimental/creative mending, and one more christmas ornament for my guild's decorated christmas tree donation. 

 

 

be sure to hop over to see what everyone else is doing with this challenge.

 

 

recent gifts include:

• in the U.S. we recently celebrated veteran's day. i am so repulsed by some of the violence and hate that i hear and see in the news and i wish that i lived in a world where it didn't exist. the reality/fact is i don't. i am a pacifist in the extreme but there are many men and women who were and are willing and able to actually fight for our right to certain freedoms (that i very much enjoy). i would like to acknowledge them with a sincere thank you for all that they have given in doing so: sometimes their very lives, their family life is interrupted, their physical and mental health is often forever changed, and the daily issues that they face are for the most part incomprehensible to me. so, yes, i have extremely ambivalant feelings on this issue but what i do know is that this country would not be the same without them and i am grateful.
• knowing that my wonderful daughter (and friend) are coming for a few days to help celebrate the thanksgiving holiday
• enough energy to lightly decorate the house for the upcoming holiday season
• a morning cup of hot cocoa
• a totally unexpected and lengthy visit from a friend who was passing through. i hardly ever get to see her and although there was some terribly heart breaking news to share we are both grateful for our long time bond of friendship.
• the gift of laughter: hearing others laugh and being able to laugh myself is such a joy. some advice for a happy heart: really listen to those laughs. if you do, you will be unable to hold back a smile yourself.
• the ability to help in some small way with the storm sandy relief efforts. i was able to share a package of fabrics and batting with Erin of My Patchwork Life who has organized many of us quilter's into one cohesive body. maybe you can help too? Erin is clearly one of those earth angels that we all so desperately need in our lives. THANK YOU ERIN~!