I have a notion

I've finished December's notion project, so now the only thing is to put them all together. This is December's piece.

All 12 of them together.

Each piece has been completely finished, but I plan on attaching them all together with another notion. It just requires me to sit down and sew them together like this;

I've also been working on my Christmas postcards and will do a post later in the week on how I did them this year. I had hoped to have them done by now but failed to realize how much time it takes to do 16 french knots per card.

Daily stitching update
365 Red Circles #337 - #344

Indigo and Rust #265 -#272

Weekly stitching #49

I am really enjoying doing these weekly squares and am brainstorming ideas for next year.  The six in size will probably remain the same, lots of hand stitching will be involved, but I'm thinking of different  backgrounds. Incorporating paper is on the top of the list, but I have a few weeks to figure it out.

Now linked to "Off the Wall Friday"

Snow !?!

Snow flakes have been flying around here all day, thankfully none are actually sticking to the ground. I'm just not ready for snow yet, our fall has been so nice that I would just like it to last a bit longer.

I was out of town for a few days over the weekend, so I don't have much new to share. I have started on a small piece (10" x 7") for the SAQA trunk show. After starting I went back and actually read the given information and I may not have made the best color choice. I'm using some over dyed kimono silk and one of the pieces has a black background, and the finished pieces are going to be mounted on black.

The colors are difficult to get photograph correctly. The gold thread is  what I'm stitching the gold side with. I'll finish it and see how it looks on black and if I don't like it I'll do something else.

I did brush some teal paintstik on to the piece I quilted a couple of weeks ago. The color is better, but I don't care for the way it looks. So on to plan B - paint the back! I will probably need to get some more paint, my supply is low because I haven't been using much lately.

Daily stitching updates
365 Red Circles #303 - #308

Indigo and Rust #231- #236

Weekly stitching #45

Monthly notions - November

Linked to "Off the Wall Friday", go check out some amazing work.

The Eye of the Quilter acceptance

Two of my photos were accepted into "The Eye of the Quilter" exhibit at the IQA show in Houston.

"Frosty Leaves"

"After the Rain"

I haven't entered a quilt in several years, mainly because I usually forget about it, but I did remember to enter some photos. So if you are one of the lucky ones attending the show in November, look for them.

Yesterday we took a day trip with our friends Barb and Bill, it was a trip we had planned on doing last year but the roads were closed because of fires. A few weeks ago the road was closed because of rock and mud slides, but yesterday was beautiful. We left Weiser went south on US95 to Highway 52 to Highway 55 with a side trip to Garden Valley for a  stop at Snip and Stitch a delightful fabric and yarn shop. I found some threads and a piece of wool that had to come home with me.

Then a stop at the Garden Valley Fiber Arts Faire before getting back on the highway. We then headed north to McCall had a great lunch and drove through Ponderosa Park to the scenic overlook.

Payette Lake

Then back thru McCall and west to 95 again and south to home. A fun day.

Daily stitching updates.

#365 Red Circles #273 - #279

Indigo and Rust #201- #207

Monthly notions - October

I have a pile of fabric ready to go into an indigo pot, so I'm hoping to get that done this week. The piece of wool above is one of several that I've acquired recently, I haven't used any of them but am very drawn to the wool lately. Maybe there will be some needle felting in my near future, especially since my needle felting machine is now accessible. 

A busy week

One of my brothers, my sister in law and a friend traveling with them were here from New York for a week long visit. This was the first time in 43 years that my brother has been here, first time ever for the other two. The last time my brother was in the west was when he got out of the Navy and stopped in Reno on his way home to NY, my youngest was 3 weeks old, that's how I know it was that long ago.

Don and I have been married 26 years and this is the first time any of my three brothers have come west to visit, I usually go east. It was great to have them here for a week.

Last Sunday the second episode of the filming I did for Quilting Arts TV was aired here in Idaho. My good friend Barb had a viewing party at her house and my creative friends, yoga friends and bowling friends all showed up. We had a great time and it made me realize what a wonderful, supportive group of friends I have.

About a month ago I complained about the piles and lack of usable space on the makeshift table in my sewing studio. My husband has built a new table for me and he and my brother installed it. But first my job was to empty out the file cabinets that were the former base of the table, clear off the old table and make room. I did it! I now have three bags of "stuff" to send to the thrift store, I recycled a large box of papers, threw out a garbage bag full and found storage for most of the items I'm keeping. Here are 2 views of what I now have, the chair can be rolled to either side and I can access all my machines.

I will probably get a rolling storage cart that has at least one drawer big enough to hang files and it will go under the left end of the table.

Daily stitching updates, multiple pictures because I honestly did plan on blogging a few times, but it didn't happen.

365 Red Circles #261 - #272

Indigo and Rust #189 - #200

Weekly stitching

#39  & #40

Monthly Notions 

September

Now linked to "Off the Wall Friday".

Another non productive week

I'm really having trouble focusing and actually accomplishing something, I'm doing a great job of starting and leaving things.  On September 14, I will be teaching a soy wax on fabric class here at my studio for the regional SAQA group. I really want to get some new samples made and plan the class, but I keep getting distracted by a lot of other things that I really don't need to do. If you are interested in taking the class, there are still spaces available.

I have another idea for an almost daily project (like I need another!) that keeps bouncing around in my head. I keep putting it off, but it won't go away so I think it's telling me I need to do it. I'll keep you posted.

My garden has been pretty dismal this year, but I've been getting and enjoying some wonderful produce from our local Farmer's Market. Saturday morning I bought the largest blackberries I have ever seen.

That's a quarter next to them! They were huge, quite tasty also.

Daily project updates
365 Red circles #233 - #239

Indigo and Rust #161 - #167

Weekly #34

Monthly "Notions" August

By writing this blog post, I just did one thing from start to finish, now maybe I can get something else done.

Linked to "Off the Wall Friday", check out some great work.

Porch and daily stitching progress

The contractor has finished his part of our front porch, now the rest of it is up to us. That means the stain, trim, skirting and railing. We spent some time at Home Depot today and bought the stain and discussed other options. The skirting and spindles will be out of leftover materials from out last deck project in our back yard. Don will do those, so it may be awhile before there is a finished photo.

Today I sewed the 10th row of red circles together, only nine more rows to go! The rest will be a mirror image of this.

365 Red Circles #187 - #190

Indigo and Rust #115 - #118

Monthly Notions - July

This post is now linked to "Off the Wall Friday"

Self Portraits and a blog tour

Next Tuesday I will be doing a blog post for a blog tour of Martha Sielman's latest book Art Quilt Portfolio: People & Portraits . Thanks to Lark publishing I'll also be giving away a copy of the book. While you are waiting for mine, check out the rest of the bloggers involved.

June 3rd – Lark Kick Off!
June 5th – Sarah Ann Smith –  http://www.sarahannsmith.com/weblogJune 6th – Maria Elkins – http://mariaelkins.comJune 7th – Laura Wasilowski –  http://artfabrik.blogspot.comJune 9th – Katherine McNeese –  http://blueheronquilts2.blogspot.com/June 10th – Cheryl Sleboda –  http://blog.muppin.com June 11th – Linda McLaughlin –  http://notesfromstudiob.blogspot.com/June 12th – Kathy Nida –  http://Kathynida.comJune 13th – Marilyn H. Wall –  http://www.marilynhwall.blogspot.comJune 14th – Janice Paine Dawes – http://thedistoriatedquilter.blogspot.com/June 16th – Pamela Price Klebaum –  http://pamprice.blogspot.comJune 17th – Deborah Boschert –  http://DeborahsJournal.blogspot.comJune 18th – Lisa Chin –  http://somethingcleveraboutnothing.blogspot.com/June 19th – Sue Bleiweiss –  http://www.suebleiweiss.com/blogJune 20th – Leni Wiener – http://www.leniwiener.comJune 24th – Cheryl Lynch –  http://www.CherylLynchQuilts.blogspot.comJune 25th – Lesley Riley – http://ArtistSuccess.com
June 26th – Stephanie Forsyth -  http://thefibernation.blogspot.com  June 30th – Pat Kumich – http://patkumicich.blogspot.com

I rarely even try to take pictures of people let alone  create a portrait. I did do three self portraits about eight years ago. Just before we moved to Idaho I spent the day with a couple of friends and we did self portraits. I've dug mine out to show you.

These were the first two and I've never finished them. The first one shows the introverted side of me hiding behind a screen. The second is ideas starting to pop out of my head. Below is the third one, I'm in lurker mode here, hiding behind all those ideas that came out of my head. This one I actually quilted and finished. These are why my work is not in the book.

Daily project updates.

365 red circles #153 - #158

Indigo and Rust #81 - # 86

Weekly project, week # 23

June's Monthly notion

Remember to come back Tuesday for a chance to win Art Quilt Portfolio: People & Portraits .


This post is linked to Off the Wall Friday.

Trying to get back into my routine.

We've been home for over a week now and I'm still having trouble getting back into my daily routine. Part of my problem is that I've got plantar fasciitis in my right foot which is making walking quite painful. I usually start my morning with a long fast walk, but the most I've been able to do is a slow short one and it's just not the same. Amazing how one little thing can throw me out of sync.

I did do a special order of fabrics and with the leftover dye stock I did some ice dying with the old ice in the ice maker. The fabrics came out very intense and bright.

I love doing these, but never use them and so I'm  creating a rather large collection that's taking up space.
I also put together some of my indigo fabrics that I did a couple of years ago. I just need to figure out what I will be doing stitch wise on them.

My Janome is still in the repair shop, this makes almost seven weeks. Last time I talked to him he was still waiting on parts. In the mean time I'm so fed up with the whole situation that I went to the Bernina dealer and bought a new machine. Unfortunately it's on backorder so I haven't gotten it yet.

My daily, weekly and monthly projects are about all that I've accomplished.
 Red circles #135 - #142

Indigo and Rust #63 - #70

Week #20

Month of May, notions

This post is now linked to Off the Wall Friday.