New Look

You can't help but notice the new look of this blog. I had been trying to get that interesting "comic book" shot of me on my blog. For some reason Blogger wouldn't allow me to change it out. Our younger son who is a Software Architect, as well as my personal "geek squad", is here for this week so I put him to work.

While he was at it, I had him paste in a background of one of my "crinkle" quilts. I got that idea after seeing the puzzle pieces background on Paula's blog. I love hers, but am trying to decide if mine is distracting. Please let me know what you think.

Party At the Beach

Tessa had a party at the beach for her family. Real food was served on the complete set of porcelain doll dishes she had just gotten for her 6th birthday from Granellie.
Invitations and envelopes were made. She and Granellie photographed her hand holding a rose. The picture was printed and decorated it with a ladybug sticker.
Each hand-written invitation was personilized by Tessa.
The table is set and the hostess is awaiting the arrival of her guests.

Menu

frankfurter rings
sliced string cheese
french bread
condiments

sweet tea & water

pudding with chocolate sauce
topped with strawberry

Don't Fence Me In

The cowboy boots were an exchange of blocks with my Thursday Bee of the Smoky Mountain Quilt Guild back in 2002.
I'm remembering this wall hanging was made in 2004. All my paperwork is in Knoxville, so that's my best recollection. It was when I found the barbed wire fabric that I knew how these blocks were to be set and the title presented itself.
The lyrics to the song are machine embroidered around the border that features cowboys and campfires. My method is to write out the words on tissue paper with a thick tipped Sharpie pen. I then use a temporary spray adhesive to stick it wrong-side-up to the wrong side of the fabric. A fairly thick thread is wound on my bobbin and a finer one threaded on the machine. The stitching is done with free-motion embroidery from the wrong side. The thicker bobbin thread forms the words on the right side of the fabric. There's also a description and photos of my writing process in this posting.

The wallhanging was gifted to my neice who lives in Texas. The barbed wire fabric was passed onto to Joyce for her farm critters quilt.

Moonlit Lake

I'm excited about my latest Lake piece. I ended up depicting the lake on a moonlit night ... without the intention of doing so. Because I hadn't deliberately done so, it took a while to even recognize that time of day.

Lake #28

It happened because I build off the first piece of fabric picked up. I begin at the horizon ... either the sky or lake. This one began with an interesting very dark shaded blue. I thought I was creating an approaching storm. But what happened with the clouds and the beach spoke otherwise.

#28 Lake contstuction

This kind of thing is what thrills me and keeps me at it ... especially after the struggle of making that first one in the presence of the lake. It's most interesting to have found that I kept my back to the view of it ... that I couldn't make myself look out the window.

So, this is what's hanging on my design wall. Lakes #27 and #28 and

# 28 1/2

Last night I made the postcard size one for a friend who cut my hair this morning. It gets a half designation within the series.

Lake Series At the Lake

I had an appointment to introduce my Lake Series pieces to Good Goods gallery in Saugatuck this morning. Yippee!!!! They loved them and kept 12 out of the 26 made so far.

It's been a few weeks since I've made any. Instead of unpacking more boxes or weeding I made one this afternoon. I've been curious how that would go when in the presence of the lake. I don't know if that was the factor that made putting this one together difficult, or if it's that I'm out of practice. Somehow, I couldn't look at the lake while constructing this piece. I kept my back to the window ... to this Here it is under construction. Part of the old stadium blanket that's used for the batting is visible at the top. It was fun choosing from new scrap bags. I'd forgotten there were so many orts from projects made here at the cottage. Reminiscing about each ones origin made me smile and feel excited about making future lake pieces.

I ended up doing quite a bit of oil pastel work to blend the elements. In spite of the struggle, Lee claims it's his favorite (of the moment).

Lake #27

To view photos of previous pieces in this series, click on the album covers in the sidebar. To read about the making of previous pieces click on the label, Lake Series.

How To Make A Colonial Knot

The knot that I'm using to stitch the spirals in the 6"quilts for the "...and still counting" project is the Colonial knot. I prefer the Colonial over the French knot because it is more stable. Plus, it's fun to make.
It's been taught it to everyone who I've lured into contributing to this project. My cousin-in-law, Judy, demonstrated the step-by-step technique for these photos this weekend just minutes after she had learned how to make them.
Pull the 2-ply strand of floss to the surface where the knot is to be placed. Lay the needle on top of the floss to make an "X". Note that the needle is pointed away from you.
Dip the point of the needle under the floss.
Wrap the floss over the top of the needle. Insert the floss wrapped needle into the fabric about a threads width from where the knot began.
Pull the length of floss to tighten the knot around the shaft of the needle and snug it against the fabric.
Pull the floss through to the back of the fabric to complete the knot.
You have just made a figure eight with the floss around the needle to make the Colonial Knot.
The Colonial Knot is used for Candle Wicking stitchery. The size of the knot is determined by the thickness of the thread and the size of the needle. These were made with 2-ply strand of floss and size 7 needle.

Greetings From Michigan

Here's a photo of our first of the season sunset over Lake Michigan. Is this more real than the art pieces created from within?

The weekend was filled with lots of family and activities. The last crew left this evening. I'm crashing tomorrow.