A splash of color and printing weeds

A pack of 10 inch squares in very bright colors became a very bright donation top this week, I do have the backing so it should get quilted soon.

After pulling some weeds I selected some to print (they have to be good for something).

2020 weekly leaf, Burr oak series, week 22
A eco/botanical print on silk

Daily colleges #13-24

Starting tomorrow I'm going to switch it up some and do a different background and a little more complexity . Anyway that's the plan we will see if I can break out of my minimalist approach.

I've also had company in the studio, a 6 week old kitten that is learning to climb everything including my roll of flannel.

I'll be linking up with "Off the Wall Friday" and "Slow Sunday Stitching"

Kittens and stitching

We have kittens again this spring, that makes four years in a row that one of the local feral cats has had kittens in our yard. Only two this year and they are three weeks old today.

Mama always has them behind one of our iris patches next to the house foundation, the tube in the back is for our drip system.

I got the three donation quilts quilted and bound this week, they are ready to turn over to Project Linus on Monday.

2019 Weekly Leaf week #18

There is a beautiful Japanese Maple tree next to one of our local banks, this time of the year the leaves are wonderful, by summer that look pretty ragged and stressed from the heat and dryness.

I picked a few of the leaves and did some botanical printing and was completely surprised at the green color that the leaf produced. It was printed on vinegar soaked silk habitoi and the leaves were dipped in a copper solution then steamed for 2 hours. I also did one on cotton and got no color at all.

2019 Daily Stitching #2, days 29-35
More straight or running stitch explorations.

I'll be linking up with "Off the Wall Friday" and "Slow Sunday Stitching"

Healing, kittens and stitching

Thank you for all the supportive comments after last weeks post about my husbands hip replacement. He is doing very well and I'm amazed at how fast he is recovering. The first few days after surgery, while he was still in the hospital I was wondering how I would be able to handle him when he got home, I didn't need to worry. One of the physical therapists actually came over to our house the first night he was home to make sure he could get up and down our 14 steep stairs to the second floor bedroom. He not only did it that night but has been going up and down at least twice a day since. Right now he's in the kitchen fixing his own lunch. He's still using a walker, but is gradually using a cane more frequently and it's made a huge difference. Next week the 27 staples holding is hip together are coming out.

The feral Mama cat that hangs out in our yard has had three kittens this year. Of course they are adorable and are really starting to get out and play. They are five weeks old so it will be a few more weeks before I'll need to find new homes for them.

This year they are all black and white with a little triangle on their foreheads just like Mom.

2018 Weekly Leaf #30

2018 Daily Stitching #2 days 57-63

I'll be linking up with "Off the Wall Friday" and "Slow Sunday Stitching "

Some new work and a studio"helper"

This week I pulled out some leftover scraps from making our great grandsons quilt last year. The scraps were pretty small and I did add a few other fabrics to the mix, but with the thought of an overgrown landscape I came up with this.

Now how do I quilt it? It's 24 inches square so probably doesn't need much.

I still had a few small pieces left and remembered some leftover prints from the weekly leaf series so ended up making 3 smaller pieces.

These pieces will get some hand stitching on the leaves and will most likely be mounted onto canvas when finished.

Then there were a few blueprint scraps and this happened.

This will also get some hand stitching.

I belong to the local art guild and we have several new places to display artwork in town so these will be perfect for that. Here's the whole group on my design wall.

Missy, the new kitten that adopted us has decided to come my studio helper, which is okay when

 she is like this.

But not when she's doing this.

Weekly Stitching

Signs of Life: The five universal shapes

week #36

I did lots of french knots this week and but it really doesn't look like much.

2017 Daily Stitching #2 days#87-93

A few polkadots, triangles and background stitching.

I'll linking up to "Off the Wall Friday" and "Slow Sunday Stitching"

Quilting spirals, another kitten and eclipse guests

A very quick post today, we are getting eclipse ready! By the time Sunday is done we will have 16 family and extended family members  here ready to view the total eclipse from our yard on Monday morning. The first two arrived on Monday, the rest will be coming at various times over the weekend. We've been stocking up on food and beverages, cleaning and finding space for everyone. We expect to have a great time!

The last two kittens will be going home with my granddaughter, one for her and one for a friend of hers. She is here now and is totally in love with them both. Last Saturday we had another kitten show up and she decided that this was where she wanted to live. We've named her Missy and after eating a lot she came into the studio and made herself very comfortable on the ironing board and slept for five hours.

I'm beginning to think we were meant to have kittens in our life, they most certainly have been fun.

I've had a bit of time to do some quilting on a quilt that has been waiting its turn since early spring.

2017 Weekly Stitching

Signs of Life:The five universal shapes

wk#33

Some blue stitching was added this week.

2017 Daily Stitching #2 days #66-72

I'll be linking up with "Off the Wall Friday" and "Slow Sunday Stitching"

Blueprinted leaves, kittens and stitching

I pulled out all of my blueprinted(cyanotype) leaves earlier this week and have spent quite bit of time arranging and rearranging them on the design board. I think I've narrowed one idea down to this.

I have several more pieces that will probably work together in another piece, but that one still needs a lot of tweaking. My table looks like this.

I have several indigo pieces in the pile also, and leaves that aren't blueprinted, all could possibly be combined into something.

The kittens are now just six weeks old and are starting to eat regular cat food, so it's about time for me to find homes for them all.

They have really been so much fun and adorable, I'm trying really hard to not get attached to them. We already have enough cats.

Weekly stitching
Signs of Life:The five universal shapes

This group of five are all Gelli printed. I spent some time playing and did all five at once, even the backing fabric.

Week #21

2017 Daily Stitching days #139-145

Some kitten footprints were added in.

I'll be linking up with "Off the Wall Friday" and "Slow Sunday Stitching".